- IBM (IBM, Financial) reveals an 84% increase in infostealer emails in its 2025 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index.
- Critical infrastructure organizations faced 70% of attacks, with vulnerability exploitation causing over a quarter of incidents.
- Asia and North America were the most targeted regions, collectively accounting for nearly 60% of global cyberattacks.
IBM (IBM) has released its 2025 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, indicating a significant rise in cybercrime's stealthy tactics. The report shows an 84% surge in emails delivering infostealers in 2024 as ransomware attacks declined. A notable 70% of these attacks targeted critical infrastructure organizations, with vulnerability exploitation responsible for over a quarter of these incidents.
The report highlights a preference for data theft (18%) over encryption (11%) among cybercriminals. An alarming trend is the 180% increase in phishing emails delivering infostealers in early 2025 compared to 2023, likely fueled by AI-driven phishing campaigns. This indicates a shift towards credential theft, with nearly a third of incidents resulting in such breaches.
Geographically, Asia (34%) and North America (24%) were the most targeted regions. For the fourth consecutive year, manufacturing was the most attacked industry, with a high vulnerability to ransomware attacks due to low downtime tolerance.
The report also underscores the challenges faced by critical infrastructure sectors, primarily due to reliance on legacy technology and sluggish patching cycles. This makes them susceptible to sophisticated threats as cybercriminals continue to exploit vulnerabilities.
IBM's findings emphasize the evolving nature of cyber threats, urging businesses to adopt proactive measures such as modernizing authentication management and conducting real-time threat hunting to safeguard against potential breaches.
