IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Highlights
Key Points
- IBM’s 2021 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index highlights ransomware as the leading attack type, though its remediation rate fell about 9% year‑over‑year.
- Supply‑chain security surged to a top priority for governments, while vulnerability exploitation was the primary initial attack vector in the manufacturing sector.
- Phishing kits in 2021 most often impersonated major brands, with Microsoft, Apple, and Google topping the list of targets.
- The report recommends three core security principles: adopt Zero Trust to limit lateral movement, implement security automation to speed incident response, and use extended detection and response (XDR) to out‑detect attackers.
- Organizations should take concrete steps such as creating a ransomware response plan, strengthening network segmentation, automating threat‑remediation workflows, and expanding XDR visibility to better defend against the identified threats.
Full Transcript
# IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Highlights **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izu86uUbpbs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izu86uUbpbs) **Duration:** 00:03:51 ## Summary - IBM’s 2021 X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index highlights ransomware as the leading attack type, though its remediation rate fell about 9% year‑over‑year. - Supply‑chain security surged to a top priority for governments, while vulnerability exploitation was the primary initial attack vector in the manufacturing sector. - Phishing kits in 2021 most often impersonated major brands, with Microsoft, Apple, and Google topping the list of targets. - The report recommends three core security principles: adopt Zero Trust to limit lateral movement, implement security automation to speed incident response, and use extended detection and response (XDR) to out‑detect attackers. - Organizations should take concrete steps such as creating a ransomware response plan, strengthening network segmentation, automating threat‑remediation workflows, and expanding XDR visibility to better defend against the identified threats. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izu86uUbpbs&t=0s) **IBM X-Force Threat Index Review** - The episode breaks down the 2021 IBM X‑Force Threat Intelligence Index, highlighting ransomware’s continued prevalence, heightened supply‑chain concerns, vulnerability exploitation in manufacturing, and the widespread use of phishing kits by cybercriminals. ## Full Transcript
findings analysis and recommendations
from the annual x-force threat
intelligence index all on this episode
of ibm cloud now
what's up y'all my name is ian and i am
back to bring you the latest and
greatest news and announcements from ibm
cloud
we're doing something a little special
this week and the entire episode will be
dedicated to covering the annual ibm
security x-force threat intelligence
index report which was just released
the threat intelligence index maps new
trends and attack patterns we observed
and analyzed from our data
these were drawn from billions of data
points ranging from network and endpoint
detection devices incident response
engagements domain name tracking and
more
given the volatile landscape and the
evolution of both threat types and
threat vectors you need threat
intelligence insights more than ever to
stay ahead of attackers and fortify your
critical assets
in terms of report highlights ransomware
was the top attack type again in 2021
although the percentage of ransomware
attacks x-force remediated decreased
nearly nine percent year-over-year
we also saw that supply chain security
was pushed to the forefront of
government and policymakers attention
and vulnerability exploitation was the
top initial attack vector in
manufacturing an industry grappling with
the effects of supply chain pressures
and delays
x-force also closely tracked how cyber
criminals were using phishing kits
throughout 2021
and the research revealed that microsoft
apple and google were the top three
brands criminals attempted to mimic
overall the report findings present some
pretty scary stuff but our intention is
for this information to empower your
organization and help build confidence
in the actions you need to take to
combat these threats
to that end there were three main
security principles x-force has found
helpful in combating today's cyber
threats
first zero trust assists in decreasing
risk of top attacks
xero trust is a new way of approaching
security problems that assumes a breach
has already happened and aims to
increase the difficulty for an attacker
to move throughout a network
second security automation enhances
incident response speed is of the
essence and automating processes can
save you precious time
and third extended detection and
response gives a significant advantage
over attackers
simply put detection and response
technologies provide organizations with
a big advantage in identifying and
eradicating attackers from a network
before they are able to reach the final
stage of their attack
there's more valuable information in the
threat intelligence index that i could
ever begin to cover in this short video
so i'll close this episode with four
specific actions organizations can take
to better secure their networks against
the threats presented in the report
number one develop a response plan for
ransomware every industry and every
geography is at risk of a ransomware
attack and how your team responds to the
critical moment can make all the
difference in the amount of time and
money lost in a response
two
implement multi-factor authentication on
every remote access point into a network
this forces threat actors to find new
ways of compromising networks rather
than leveraging stolen credentials
number three adopt a layered approach to
combat fishing there is no one tool or
solution so several layers of solutions
have a higher chance of catching
phishing emails
number four refine and mature your
vulnerability management system
as i said there's a ton of really good
information in the threat intelligence
index and i encourage you to give the
whole thing a read to access the full
report click the link in the description
of this video
thanks so much for joining me today for
this episode of ibm cloud 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 the cloud
now