Cybercrime is thriving during the pandemic, driven by surge in phishing and ransomware

Cybercriminals ransomed millions of dollars from businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, using time-tested tactics like phishing, social engineering and other hacker tools of the trade. 

For companies, the average cost of a data breach soared to $21,659 per incident during the pandemic, with most incidents ranging from as little as $800 to more than $650,000, according to a new report from Verizon. But 5% of successful attacks cost businesses $1 million or more.  Nearly 85% of successful data breaches involved defrauding humans, rather than exploiting flaws in computer code. Although specific techniques vary by industry, 61% of all data breaches are the result of schemes that try to swipe login credentials, such as phishing schemes, the wireless provider found.