According to an annual survey conducted by security firm Proofpoint, approximately a quarter of Brazilian companies reported financial losses due to digital attacks in 2022, with most reporting cases of data theft.
The survey states that 78% of Brazilian companies had at least one successful email data theft (phishing) experience in 2022, and 23% suffered financial losses.
Proofpoint did not collect information on the amount of damage caused by the attacks.
The survey, also conducted in 14 other countries, found that 58% of Brazilian companies suffered a ransomware attempt last year, with 46% successful cases for the hackers.
In this attack, the criminals manage to prevent the victim from accessing data on the affected systems and charge a “ransom” payment using cryptocurrencies or untraceable transactions.
According to the report, only seven out of ten companies regained access to their data after paying the ransom.
After hacker attacks, 91% of the affected organizations paid for ransoms, and 29% did so more than once.
Of the organizations affected by ransomware in the country, 92% had an insurance policy for such attacks.
The survey was conducted via questionnaires and spoke globally with 7,500 employees and 1,050 IT professionals from partner companies.
500 employees and 50 IT professionals from partner companies were interviewed in Brazil.
Last year, several Brazilian companies and institutions suffered digital attack attempts, such as Americanas retailer, BR Partners investment bank, Banco Pan, wheel and automotive components manufacturer Iochpe-Maxion, sanitation company Aegea, and ANP (National Petroleum Agency).
Americanas alone lost about R$1 billion in sales after the February 2022 hacker attack.
While phishing remains successful, many hackers have stepped up attacks that use phishing phones and websites designed to simulate trusted addresses, which bypass multi-factor authentication, according to the research.
“These techniques have been used for years, but in 2022 they were deployed on a large scale,” Rogério Morais, Proofpoint’s vice president of Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a press release.
With information from Forbes
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Brazil — Live Market Board
-0.74%
204,302.33
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65,312.46
+0.52%
10,999.64
-1.47%
2,824,123
-2.51%
2,534.92
-2.09%
60,766.81
-1.71%
| Instrument | Last | Change | YoY | Prev. | High | Low | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBOV | 204,302.33 | -0.74% | +21.85% | 205,835.29 | 168,310 | 167,142 | — |
| USD/BRL | 5.16 | +0.01% | -5.13% | 5.16 | 5.18 | 5.14 | — |
| SELIC | 14.00% | — | — | — | — | — | |
| PETR4 | 41.64 | -0.05% | +35.19% | 41.66 | 41.97 | 41.15 | 41,499,400 |
| VALE3 | 72.97 | +0.83% | +30.75% | 72.37 | 73.54 | 72.66 | 17,658,000 |
| ITUB4 | 38.60 | -1.03% | +4.57% | 39.00 | 39.34 | 38.39 | 29,487,800 |
| BBDC4 | 16.85 | +0.36% | +3.50% | 16.79 | 16.90 | 16.67 | 19,416,900 |
| BBAS3 | 19.37 | +0.47% | +0.73% | 19.28 | 19.44 | 19.16 | 11,069,200 |
| B3SA3 | 14.26 | -0.21% | +12.73% | 14.29 | 14.47 | 14.11 | 33,037,800 |
| ABEV3 | 14.89 | -0.80% | +21.91% | 15.01 | 15.07 | 14.81 | 16,453,100 |
| WEGE3 | 47.59 | +0.49% | +29.99% | 47.36 | 48.08 | 47.36 | 3,364,600 |
| PRIO3 | 59.14 | -0.19% | +50.67% | 59.25 | 59.81 | 58.74 | 3,325,600 |
| SUZB3 | 41.33 | +2.35% | -23.55% | 40.38 | 41.48 | 40.35 | 3,914,900 |
| RENT3 | 34.68 | -0.09% | +0.84% | 34.71 | 34.96 | 34.35 | 7,979,100 |
| AZZA3 | 15.89 | -2.63% | -53.76% | 16.32 | 16.42 | 15.82 | 1,330,300 |
| CSNA3 | 4.30 | +0.47% | -42.65% | 4.28 | 4.41 | 4.26 | 10,076,100 |
| GGBR4 | 24.69 | +2.19% | +51.38% | 24.16 | 24.85 | 24.18 | 7,047,600 |
| ENEV3 | 24.21 | -1.38% | +70.49% | 24.55 | 24.64 | 23.99 | 9,297,000 |
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