Subj : Hackers are hitting firewalls and VPNs to breach businesses
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Apr 22 2025 18:15:08

Hackers are hitting firewalls and VPNs to breach businesses

Date:
Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Description:
Routers, VPNs, and other network edge devices are being used as entry points 
by attackers.

FULL STORY
======================================================================Network 
edge devices make up nearly 30% of intrusion points Ransomware is still the 
most popular attack type End-of-life devices pose a serious risk to security 

It wont come as much of a surprise to learn that cyberattackers are evolving 
their tactics, and that the number of attacks is growing each year. New 
research from Sophos shows that these incidents involving network edge 
devices like routers, VPNs , and firewalls , are becoming a growing point of 
intrusion - accounting for nearly 30% of initial compromises observed in 
Sophos Annual Threat Report . 

Within ransomware and data exfiltration attacks, VPNs were the most popular 
initial compromise type - making up 25% of events, even higher than 
compromised credentials, which sits at just over 15% - concerning given that 
billions of credentials are stolen from businesses around the world every 
year. 

Unsurprisingly, ransomware topped the table for number of incidents, with 
over 90% of incident response cases for midsize organizations, and 70% of 
small business cases involving the attack. 

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A noticeable trend in cybersecurity is the rise in social engineering 
attacks, primarily to collect credentials in order to move forward into the 
targeted organizations network. This is largely due to AI enabling attackers 
to send out more sophisticated phishing attacks at a higher rate than ever. 

Over the past several years, attackers have aggressively targeted edge 
devices. Compounding the issue is the increasing number of end-of-life (EOL) 
devices found in the wild  a problem Sophos calls digital detritus. Because 
these devices are exposed to the internet and often low on the patching 
priority list, they are a highly effective method for infiltrating networks, 
said Sean Gallagher, principal threat researcher at Sophos. 

Out-of-date tech poses a serious risk to cybersecurity teams, and is costing 
organizations in operational costs and security risks - making lifecycle 
management an integral part of cyber defense. 

However, targeting edge devices is part of a larger shift were witnessing in 
which attackers dont have to deploy custom malware. Instead, they can exploit 
businesses own systems, increasing their agility and hiding in the places 
security leaders arent looking, Gallagher adds. You might also like Take a 
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choice for best antivirus software One of the most powerful ransomware hacks 
around has been cracked using some serious GPU power



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/hackers-are-hitting-firewalls-and-vpns-
to-breach-businesses


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