Red alarm level: Microsoft warns of the massive increase in cyber attacks!

Red alarm level: Microsoft warns of the massive increase in cyber attacks!

In an alarming message, Microsoft warned of an increase in cyber attacks that assume both criminal hackers and state actors. These attacks have the potential to influence geopolitical conflicts by unauthorized by taking espionage, manipulating data and even disturbing democratic processes, for example by manipulating elections. Such tactics are particularly important in the context of the current global political tensions.

On the occasion of the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024, the company reports that more than 78 trillion technical processes have been analyzed every day. It was found that Microsoft customers who use cloud-based solutions experience over 600 million attacks every day. The increase in attacks with blackmail software, known as ransomware, is particularly worrying, which has almost tripled last year. In these attacks, cybercriminals try to penetrate the systems of their victims to steal data and to obtain the complete encryption of the systems to request a ransom.

geopolitical actors and their strategy

The digital report emphasizes that the greatest threat in the cyber area of hackers from countries such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. Russia specifically uses hacker groups to attack Ukraine and NATO countries. North Korea and Iran in particular pursue the goal of generating financial resources for state purposes through ransomware attacks. These attackers not only try to cause technical disorders, but also to undermine the public's trust in democratic processes, especially in the USA

The danger that is based on these attacks will be assessed as particularly high in the coming weeks, especially in view of the impending elections. However, these influences can have far -reaching effects on international relationships and stability in many regions.

The situation in Germany

In Germany, criminal hackers are very often at work that view the German economy as an attractive goal. These attacks can often be seen in the context of the Ukraine conflict, although not only Germany, but also countries such as Great Britain and Poland are always the goal of such attacks. Microsoft emphasizes that the willingness to defend in Germany against cyber attacks is only limited.

A representative survey carried out by Civey in September 2024 shows that 79 percent of decision -makers in politics and administration attest a low willingness to defend against cyber attacks. It is worrying that every fourth respondent indicates that his organization has implemented “no” defense strategies. These findings indicate considerable gaps in digital security that could facilitate potential attacks.

The current developments that Microsoft lists in his report are not only important for companies, but also raise questions about the Cybersecurity strategy of governments. It remains to be seen how quickly improvements are made in the defense of cyber attacks in order to counter the steadily growing threats. Further information can be found here .