Ransomware attacks have targeted more small businesses than ever throughout the last year, according to a recent data breach report from Verizon.

The US-based data provider noted that 24% out of all the data breaches recorded in 2023 were financially motivated.

This is a dramatic increase from previous years as attacks become more sophisticated and rampant, recording a surge since the latter half of 2022 when generative AI has become more widely known.

Threat actors still mainly rely on the human element or people being involved either via error, privilege misuse, and social engineering, as evidenced by stolen credentials and phishing notably being the most common breaching method hackers use.

Verizon's data reflects earlier reports indicating an increase in the money stolen through ransomware attacks as threat actors recover from the government crackdown launched in 2021 and 2022.

Also Read: Ransomware Attacks Stole Over $1.1 Billion from Companies in 2023

Economic, Financial Sectors at Risk from Increased Cyberattacks

The growing trend of financially motivated cyberattacks is particularly detrimental to the country's economy as the financial sector's operations continue to get hit.

Not only that businesses, both big and small, have to worry about financial losses from the disrupted services, some have to pay ransom money to recover stolen data from hackers, especially if it involves a multitude of personal customer information.

Such was the case with the cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group, one of the biggest healthcare providers in the US, forcing the company to pay $22 million to recover patients' data.

The International Monetary Fund has already alerted world governments to bolster their cyber defenses against the increasingly more sophisticated cyberattacks as threat actors employ modern technology into their operations.

The IMF noted that more occurrences of extreme losses in many businesses "could potentially cause funding problems for companies and even jeopardize" the country's monetary solvency.

Related Article: Increased Cyberattacks in Financial Sectors May Cause Economic Instability, IMF Warns

Businesses Urged to Be Passwordless

In the advent of increased cyberattacks, more businesses are being urged to shift towards passwordless security systems to better protect their data from deception.

This means that companies will rely on biometrics data to access records, rather than relying on passwords, PIN codes, and other pattern-like access keys that can be stolen easily.

So far, at least 92% of the organizations in the world have declared intentions to go passwordless for better security measures.