X-Force 2023: Backdoors, Ransomware, Phishing
Key Points
- The 2023 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index analyzes billions of 2022 data points and highlights back‑doors as the most common attacker objective, accounting for 21% of incidents and often serving as a precursor to ransomware.
- Ransomware attacks have accelerated dramatically, with the average dwell time shrinking from just over two months to roughly three days, underscoring the need for customized, regularly‑tested incident‑response plans.
- Phishing remains the dominant infection vector, responsible for 41% of attacks, driven in part by remote‑work‑related email exposure and a surge in “thread hijacking” tactics that exploit ongoing conversations.
- X‑Force advises organizations to focus on the specific threat actors most likely to target their industry, geography, and sector, and to implement proactive detection and rapid remediation to mitigate the compounded risks of back‑doors, ransomware, and phishing.
Full Transcript
# X-Force 2023: Backdoors, Ransomware, Phishing **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfNE3P-roQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfNE3P-roQ) **Duration:** 00:03:53 ## Summary - The 2023 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index analyzes billions of 2022 data points and highlights back‑doors as the most common attacker objective, accounting for 21% of incidents and often serving as a precursor to ransomware. - Ransomware attacks have accelerated dramatically, with the average dwell time shrinking from just over two months to roughly three days, underscoring the need for customized, regularly‑tested incident‑response plans. - Phishing remains the dominant infection vector, responsible for 41% of attacks, driven in part by remote‑work‑related email exposure and a surge in “thread hijacking” tactics that exploit ongoing conversations. - X‑Force advises organizations to focus on the specific threat actors most likely to target their industry, geography, and sector, and to implement proactive detection and rapid remediation to mitigate the compounded risks of back‑doors, ransomware, and phishing. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfNE3P-roQ&t=0s) **IBM X‑Force Threat Index Overview** - The segment introduces IBM’s 2023 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index, emphasizing its billions of data points and concentrating on the three leading 2022 threat actions—backdoors, ransomware, and phishing—to illustrate the need for collaborative security responses. ## Full Transcript
the 2023 xforce threat intelligence
index including info on back doors
ransomware and fishing all on this
episode of IBM Tech now what's up y'all
my name is Ian and I am back to bring
you the latest and greatest news and
announcements about IBM
technology it's officially that time of
year again and ibmx force has released
their annual threat intelligence index a
comprehensive analysis of all their
research data from January to December
of 2022 and included literally billions
of data points so this thing is Big
folks now we do this as a resource for
clients policy makers researchers and
the security industry in general because
today's volatile landscape with its
increasingly sophisticated and malicious
threats requires a collaborative effort
to protect businesses and
citizens these essential research
insights and recommendations can help
you respond to a tax with greater speed
and Effectiveness the report is
absolutely packed with important
information so we're going to limit the
discussion in this episode to three main
topics back doors ransomware and fishing
to start the most common actionon
objective taken by thread actors in 2022
was the deployment of back doors with a
21% share of incidents reported as a
refresher actionon objective is a term
we in cyber security borrowed from the
military and it refers to the action and
Intruder takes to achieve their goals
now back doors are often precursors to
ransomware events detecting back doors
before ransomware is deployed gives us
an opportunity as Defenders to prevent
the catastrophic impact of ransomware
encrypting a bunch of systems it also
helps prevent the double extortion
techniques that thread actors are using
while many organizations have a broad
view of the threat landscape exforce
recommends organizations adopt a view
that emphasizes the specific threat
actors that are most likely to Target
your industry organization and
geography next let's look at at
ransomware ransomware attacks have
gotten much faster which means there
must be faster responses in fact the
average duration of a ransomware attack
has gone from a little over two months
to just a little over 3 days when things
are moving that quickly the best defense
is to be prepared attacks are inevitable
but failure doesn't have to be
organizations should develop incident
response plans customized to their
environment those plans should be
regularly drilled and modified as the
organization changes with a focus on
improving response remediation and
recovery time finally let's talk a
little about fishing remote work is
fueling another spike in email Bas
threats and fishing Remains the leading
infection Vector with 41% of the share
one particular method that saw a
significant rise last year was thread
hijacking this is where threat actors
reply to recent email threads to trick
your friends family and co-workers into
providing access to sensitive
information data or systems essentially
they're creating a chain reaction with
potential victims even worse free chat
Bots and AI services like chat GPT are
making these threats harder to detect to
prevent similar incidents from happening
in the future it's important to
understand the root cause of the
incident this may involve a combination
of technical procedural and human
factors so a comprehensive approach is
necessary to identify all potential
causes to get the full rundown on all
the 2022 research around backd doors
ransomware fishing and much much more
make sure you download the new threat
intelligence index from the link in the
description of this video thanks so much
for joining me today for this episode of
IBM Tech now if you're interested in
learning more about the topics I've
covered make sure you explore the links
in the description of this video and
again please don't forget to subscribe
to our channel to stay up to date on
what's going on in Tech now