The number of cyber attacks on Belgian and Dutch organizations increased the most in two years last quarter. The increase was 33 percent (Netherlands) and 31 percent (Belgium) from a year earlier. This is below the European overall increase of 35 percent. An average of 1,367 cyber attacks are launched against EU organizations in a single week.
Check Point sees a global increase in cyber attacks on organizations. That while 2024 started the year strong with a five percent drop in attacks. “These cyber attack numbers were driven by a variety of reasons, ranging from the continued increase in digital transformation and the growing sophistication of cybercriminals using advanced techniques like AI and machine learning,” the company explains.
Data breaches in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, hackers primarily hope to steal data from organizations. Information Disclosure constitutes the most common vulnerability (54%). Mainly American hackers appear interested in Dutch organisations, 47 percent of the attacks come from this continent. Seventeen percent of the attacks start from a Dutch hacker and finally seven percent from Germany.
“On a country level as well as on a European and global level, we see strong shifts. 2024 is a year marked by geopolitical tensions, economic shifts and elections worldwide. At the beginning of this year, we have already identified a rising trend in hacktivism, in which the lines between state cyber operations and hacktivism have blurred as more and more hacktivist groups are now affiliated with the state. The hacktivist groups are better organized and more effective than ever before,” explained Zahier Madhar, security engineer expert at Check Point.
RCE attacks most popular in Belgium
In Belgium, the cybersecurity firm notes that hackers made much more effort to break into corporate environments in the most recent quarter. This was an increase of 31 percent. Most of the attacks aim to cause severe damage, with the most common attack, Remote Code Execution (62%).
Almost half of the attempts come from the Americas (45%). A resident attack occurs in thirteen percent of attempts, with six percent coming from the Netherlands.
Research and healthcare major targets
The healthcare sector appears to be Belgium’s biggest target. The sector faces an average of 2,783 attacks per week. That drives up the average across all industries, with Check Point noting an average of 1,090 attacks per week. Government and military organizations are also more affected (1,628 per week), as is the financial sector, which is affected by an average of 1,391 attacks per week.
Check Point further notes a sharp increase in the number of attacks on organizations from education and research worldwide. This sector suffered the most attacks last quarter, averaging 3,341 per week. “The education and research sector has consistently been a prime target for cybercriminals because of the wealth of sensitive information and often inadequate cyber security measures that have become even more complex as multiple groups of online users inside and outside the network increase the attack vector surface.” In Belgium, the sector is not part of the top three.
Also read: Dark Angels doubles ransomware record as it gains $75M from single victim