June 2020 Cyber Threat Index finds Law & Government sector experienced greatest boost in traffic, Gambling took biggest hit

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – July 23, 2020 – Imperva, Inc., the cybersecurity leader whose mission is to protect data and all paths to it, published its June 2020 Cyber Threat Index Report, revealing the overall change in web traffic patterns over the past six months, as the COVID-19 pandemic set new benchmarks across all major industries. Additionally, Imperva Research Labs found that Healthcare sites are highly susceptible to remote attacks as bad bots capitalize on the sector’s vulnerability during the coronavirus crisis.

The monthly report also showed an increase of cyber attacks on Australian industries leading up to a June 18 cyber campaign, and continued signs of increasing length of Application DDoS attacks month over month. Key findings include:

  • Six-month look back at web traffic trends shows major shifts across industries. Since January 2020, traffic to Law & Government sites spiked by 71%, as consumers visited gov.org sites for resources and assistance throughout the coronavirus crisis. Additional trends over the past six months include:
    • Growth in web traffic in the following industries: Food (+60%), Entertainment (+43%), Retail (+20%), Business (+18%), and Computing & IT (+12%)
    • Stalls in web traffic in the following industries: Gambling (-64%), Travel (-33%), and Sports (-12%)
  • Healthcare sector registers at high risk for remote attacks. With a Cyber Threat Index score ranging from 738 to 811 in June, the Healthcare industry remains extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks. Remote code execution and data leakage were the most dominant attacks due to the presence of protected health information (PHI) and access to user credentials. Attacks against Healthcare services are most predominant in India (comprising 18% of all attacks), Japan (10%) and the United Kingdom (6%).
  • Australian cyber attacks surge prior to ACSC disclosure. Cyber attacks aimed at Australia increased 5% in June, and 64% since January 2020. Much of this preceded the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC)’s June 18 disclosure, identifying a sophisticated and sustained attack against Australian government bodies and companies. Imperva Research Labs explored these exploits further and provided mitigation tips in a recent blog post.
  • Activity of DDoS attacks continue to increase. In June, Imperva Research Labs identified eleven major application DDoS attacks over 150,000 RPS—a four point increase over May’s Cyber Threat Index. Additionally, these attacks were relatively short in time—up to three hours—and lasted no more than two consecutive days.
  • Overall Cyber Threat Index score falls by 34 points, but remains at a ‘high’ level. Although the number of attacks increased by 50%, the Cyber Threat Index score decreased by 34 points in June due to less high- and medium-risk vulnerabilities and shorter high-risk DDoS attacks.

The Cyber Threat Index is a monthly measurement and analysis of the global cyber threat landscape across data and applications, and is based on data gathered from Imperva sensors all over the world—including over 25 petabytes of network traffic passing through the Imperva CDN per month. With over one trillion total requests analyzed and 21 billion application attacks blocked, it offers an unrivaled and comprehensive look at application security and provides an easy-to-understand score to consistently track cyber threat levels and observe trends over time. Viewers can dive deeper into the score and drill down for individual industries and countries, and also view historic Index scores.

The June 2020 Cyber Threat Index is available at https://www.imperva.com/cyber-threat-index/

“With COVID-19 still very much present in daily life, Imperva Research Labs looked back at the past six months for the June Cyber Threat Index to identify the long-term effects on web traffic across the major verticals,” said Nadav Avital, head of security research at Imperva. “Between January and June 2020, there were some expected changes in web traffic—with increases in Food and Entertainment, and decreases in Gambling and Travel—but the greatest shift was the 71% boost in Law & Government. With the public relying on government websites to inform critical updates to guidelines and shelter-in-place orders, this sector played a critical role in disseminating important information.”

The Cyber Threat Index was created by Imperva Research Labs, a premier research organization for security analysis, vulnerability discovery and compliance expertise. The organization provides round-the-clock research into the latest security vulnerabilities and is comprised of some of the world’s leading experts in data and application security.

About Imperva

Imperva is an analyst-recognized, cybersecurity leader on a mission to protect customers’ digital assets by accurately detecting and effectively blocking incoming threats, and empowering customers to manage critical risks, so they do not have to choose between innovating for their customers and protecting what matters most. At Imperva, we tirelessly defend our customer’s business as it grows, giving them clarity for today and confidence for tomorrow. Learn more at www.imperva.com, our blog, or Twitter.