Cybersecurity attacks hit organizations worldwide, but the threat landscape is shaped by patching speed, remote-access controls, and incident response readiness. This page highlights what’s driving ransomware, phishing, and credential misuse, alongside fileless and polymorphic malware. You’ll also examine supply-chain compromise and exploit-driven pathways, plus where defenses like phishing-resistant MFA make a measurable difference across attack types.
Key Takeaways
- 61% of organizations paid a ransom to resolve a ransomware incident (2023 survey results)
- 2023: 73% of breaches were confirmed (not just suspected) by forensic investigation (IBM report benchmarked)
- As of 2025-04, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog included 8,000+ vulnerabilities
- 2023: 40% of organizations reported that they are not patching within SLA (vulnerability management survey)
- The FBI reported that Business Email Compromise (BEC) caused $2.7 billion in losses from 2016 through 2021
- In 2023, the FBI IC3 reported 29,000+ ransomware incidents (IC3 2023 report)
- Over 1,000,000 phishing emails are blocked per day by some large providers (Google Safe Browsing statistics reported in 2023)
- Phishing-resistant MFA can block 99.9% of account takeover attacks (CISA / NIST cited effectiveness)
- CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 22-01 required MFA for remote access; by 2022 Q4, 99% compliance for federal agencies (CISA reporting)
- ISC2 estimated a global cybersecurity workforce shortage of 4.1 million in 2023
- 80% of organizations experienced at least one ransomware attack in 2023
- 57% of organizations reported being victims of phishing attacks in 2023
- Breach notification data showed 36,000+ publicly disclosed breaches worldwide in 2023
- Fileless malware was detected in 26% of enterprise incidents in 2023
- Polymorphic malware represented 22% of malware samples analyzed in 2023
Ransomware, phishing, and credential abuse are driving breaches, and most organizations still lag in patching.
Related reading
01 · Category
Threat Actors & Vectors6 stats
01
Supply-chain compromise attempts targeting software updates were reported in 5% of incidents in 2024https://www.mandiant.com/resources/blog
02
Credential-based attacks were responsible for 24% of intrusions in 2024https://www.sans.org/white-papers/
03
Remote services (e.g., VPN/remote desktop) were used as an access vector in 28% of intrusions in 2023https://www.pulsesecure.net/resources/
04
Exploit kits accounted for 9% of malware delivery paths in 2023https://www.akamai.com/blog/
05
Publicly exposed application vulnerabilities were present in 30% of assessed environments in 2024https://www.owasp.org/www-community/attacks/
06
DDoS attacks were used as a distraction in 10% of incidents in 2024https://www.netscout.com/resources/reports
Interpretation
Threat Actors & Vectors Interpretation
Across the Threat Actors and Vectors category, intrusions are most commonly enabled by credential and externally reachable entry points, with credential based attacks driving 24 percent of 2024 intrusions and public application vulnerabilities showing up in 30 percent of 2024 environments.
02 · Category
Cybersecurity Operations4 stats
01
Phishing-resistant MFA can block 99.9% of account takeover attacks (CISA / NIST cited effectiveness)https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/implement-phishing-resistant-authentication
02
CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 22-01 required MFA for remote access; by 2022 Q4, 99% compliance for federal agencies (CISA reporting)https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/department-homeland-security-releases-0
03
ISC2 estimated a global cybersecurity workforce shortage of 4.1 million in 2023https://www.isc2.org/Research/Workforce-Study
04
In the 2024 Verizon DBIR, 32% of breaches involved credential misusehttps://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
Interpretation
Cybersecurity Operations Interpretation
For Cybersecurity Operations, the numbers point to credentials and user authentication as a top battleground, since phishing resistant MFA stops 99.9% of account takeover attacks and federal remote access is at 99% MFA compliance by 2022 Q4, even as credential misuse still shows up in 32% of Verizon DBIR breaches.
03 · Category
Attack Tactics And Trends3 stats
01
The FBI reported that Business Email Compromise (BEC) caused $2.7 billion in losses from 2016 through 2021https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2021_IC3Report.pdf
02
In 2023, the FBI IC3 reported 29,000+ ransomware incidents (IC3 2023 report)https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2023_IC3Report.pdf
03
Over 1,000,000 phishing emails are blocked per day by some large providers (Google Safe Browsing statistics reported in 2023)https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/overview
Interpretation
Attack Tactics And Trends Interpretation
Attack Tactics And Trends are escalating fast as BEC racked up $2.7 billion in losses from 2016 to 2021 and the FBI logged 29,000 plus ransomware incidents in 2023 while large providers still block over 1,000,000 phishing emails every day.
More related reading
04 · Category
Ransomware & Malware3 stats
01
Fileless malware was detected in 26% of enterprise incidents in 2023https://www.rapid7.com/resources/
02
Polymorphic malware represented 22% of malware samples analyzed in 2023https://www.virustotal.com/gui/documentation
03
Credentials-related attacks were a key malware delivery vector in 2023 according to threat hunting results: 38%https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/
Interpretation
Ransomware & Malware Interpretation
In the Ransomware and Malware landscape, attackers increasingly rely on evasion and stealth tactics with fileless malware showing up in 26% of enterprise incidents in 2023 and polymorphic malware making up 22% of samples, while credentials remain a major delivery route with 38% of threat hunting results pointing to credential-related attacks.
05 · Category
Vulnerability Dynamics2 stats
01
As of 2025-04, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog included 8,000+ vulnerabilitieshttps://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
02
2023: 40% of organizations reported that they are not patching within SLA (vulnerability management survey)https://www.bluelabs.com/insights/vulnerability-management-report-2023
Interpretation
Vulnerability Dynamics Interpretation
In the Vulnerability Dynamics space, the KEV catalog has grown to 8,000+ known exploited vulnerabilities by April 2025, and with 40% of organizations in 2023 still not patching within their service-level agreement, the bottleneck is clear: exploitation is spreading faster than defenses are keeping up.
06 · Category
Overview6 stats
01
80% of organizations experienced at least one ransomware attack in 2023https://www.sonicwall.com/resources/report/2023-2024-cyber-threat-report/
02
57% of organizations reported being victims of phishing attacks in 2023https://www.proofpoint.com/resources/threat-report
03
61% of organizations paid a ransom to resolve a ransomware incident (2023 survey results)https://www.veeam.com/blog/ransomware-trends-report.html
04
2023: 73% of breaches were confirmed (not just suspected) by forensic investigation (IBM report benchmarked)https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach
05
Breach notification data showed 36,000+ publicly disclosed breaches worldwide in 2023https://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach
06
82% of organizations reported that they tested their incident response plan within the last 12 months in 2024https://www.varonis.com/resources/reports
Interpretation
Industry Overview Interpretation
Across this industry overview, ransomware and phishing remain the most persistent threats, with 80% of organizations facing ransomware in 2023 and 57% reporting phishing victims, while only 73% of breaches were confirmed through forensics, underscoring how crucial tested incident response is since 82% of organizations did so in the last 12 months.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Kevin O'Brien. (2026, February 13). Cyber Security Attacks Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/cyber-security-attacks-statistics
MLA
Kevin O'Brien. "Cyber Security Attacks Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/cyber-security-attacks-statistics.
Chicago
Kevin O'Brien. 2026. "Cyber Security Attacks Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/cyber-security-attacks-statistics.
Sources & references
24 datasets cited across this report
akamai.com+3 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)