Cyberattacks hit Europe more than any other region in 2023, according tonew researchfrom IBM.
The continent accounted for a whopping 32% of incidents analysed by the tech giant.
North America jumps into second place with 26% of all cases.
Across the globe, the biggest technicalshift was the growing abuse of user identities.
Attacks harnessing valid credentials surged by 71% year-over-year.
For the first time, they became the most common entrypoint into victim environments alongside phishing.
These trends have a simple explanation.
Searching for the path of least resistance, attackers are moving from hacking in to logging in.
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Portugals 11% was another eye-catching number per capita.
The larger countries of Italy and France each attracted 8% of the continents total.
Collectively, these nations made Europe a hotbed of cyberattacks.
To explain the continents growing attraction tohackers, IBM pointed to several factors.
One is Europe becoming the leading region for ransomware attacks.
Another is itshigh use of cloudplatforms.
This could create a larger attack surface particularly if criminals obtain validcloudaccounts.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
