The first quarter of 2024 was characterized by numerous announcements of cyber attacks on Belgian companies and government agencies. However, the number of attacks in our country fell by five percent compared to a year earlier, to an average of 955 attacks per week. This makes Belgium a notable exception: worldwide the number of incidents actually increased by five percent, according to cyber security firm Check Point Research.
The average number of cyber attacks per organization worldwide rose to 1,308 per week in the first quarter. The Education/Research sector suffered heavily with an average of 2,454 attacks, followed by the Government/Military (1,692) and Healthcare (1,605) sectors. According to the researchers, these top three indicate an ‘alarming vulnerability’ in sectors that are crucial to the functioning of society.
At the same time, there has been a substantial increase in attacks on hardware suppliers (+37 percent). The increasing dependence on vendors for IoT and smart devices apparently makes these companies lucrative targets for cybercriminals.
Remote Code Execution
Belgian companies are attacked most often from the United States (49 percent), Belgian soil (14 percent) and from the Netherlands (7 percent). The health sector remains the most targeted with an average of 1,730 attacks per week, followed by military and government institutions (946) and the financial sector (931).
Belgian companies appear to be the most vulnerable to Remote Code Execution, accounting for 68 percent of all vulnerabilities in our country. An RCE attack allows attackers to execute malicious code on an organization’s computers or network. This makes it possible, for example, to implement additional malware or steal sensitive data.
Check Point Research cannot yet provide a conclusive explanation for the decrease in the number of attacks in Belgium. “But it is in any case a positive development that more cyber attacks are being announced, because it increases awareness among both companies and consumers,” says Lieven Van Rentergem, security engineer expert at the cyber security company. ‘On the other hand, the average of 955 attacks on Belgian companies per week remains an extremely high number and our health sector remains number one of the most targeted sectors this quarter. Extra vigilance is therefore required here.’
