The 10 defining cyber events of 2021

It’s no overstatement to say that this year was an historic worst for cyber threats. Amid new remote working trends and a sea of global lockdowns, cyber criminals gleefully leveraged the chaotic climate to attack more targets than ever. But as the crooks upped their game, so too global tech companies and governments rolled out innovative products and strategies in the strongest show of global unity yet.Here’s our pick of those defining moments for cybersecurity over the past 12 months…1 Colonial PipelineThe month of May had the largest ransomware attack on an oil infrastructure target in the history of the US. The FBI and various media sources pinpointed criminal hacking group DarkSide as the attackers. In November, the Department of State announced a £7.55 million reward for information leading to the "identification or location" of leaders of the DarkSide ransomware group. 2 SolarWindsIt was around a year ago when the SolarWinds attack came to light, but hardly a week goes by without more revelations coming out about one of the largest hacking campaigns in 2021. The widely known and respected network management firm SolarWinds found itself a pawn in Russian-led supply chain attacks on global companies and governments. Even now, Cozy Bear, the hackers behind the attack are still scoping out potential targets. 3 Kaseya supply chain attackFollowing on from the SolarWinds attack in July, the notorious Russia-linked ransomware group REvil targeted a vulnerability in a Kaseya remote computer management tool to launch an attack on over 2,000 organisations around the world. The attack was first noticed on 2 July. On 22 July, Kaseya announced it had obtained a universal decryption key for ransomware victims.4 Covid and the threat of healthcare cyber attacksAs the pandemic continues to dominate headlines, healthcare organisations remain a prime target for cyber criminals. The Irish health system suffered weeks of disruption following a cyber attack in the spring. The recovery was slow and costly with estimates from HSE Director General Paul Reid projecting the costs to exceed £451 million. 5 Poisoning the water supply in FloridaIn February, hackers attempted to poison the water supply in the city of Oldsmar, Florida. An attacker accessed a computer for the city’s water treatment system and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide. The quick actions of an employee who spotted the concentration changing on his computer screen and immediately changed it, avoided a significant public health emergency, according to reports by the Tampa Bay Times.6 JBS Foods hit by REvil ransomware, admit to paying ransom In June, the North American and Australian IT systems of JBS, the largest meat processing company in the world, were targeted in "an organised cybersecurity attack”. This attack led to the suspension of all affected systems. It later transpired that the company paid an £8.3 million ransom to the REvil ransomware operation.7 HelloKitty hits makers of Cyberpunk 2077 gameIn February, Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red was hit by a cyber attack where hackers collected data belonging to the video game company. The criminals accessed source codes for Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, Gwent and the unreleased version of Witcher 3. They also gained access to "documents relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investor relations and more". Clues led to the conclusion that the HelloKitty ransomware group mounted the attack.8 Biden moves to improve US cyber security and information sharingIn the wake of numerous hacks and ransomware attacks, US president Joe Biden made an executive order in May directing the federal government to ramp up its efforts against cybercrime and increase protection of government networks following incidents involving SolarWinds and the Colonial Pipeline hack. In addition to modernising cyber defences, the order also directed organisations to increase the sharing of information relating to cybersecurity threats and breach information. 9 REvil members get arrested in RomaniaBut this year was not all doom and gloom… a handful of cyber criminals were caught red-handed. In November, Romanian authorities arrested two individuals suspected of cyber attacks deploying the Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware, according to Europol. Cyber security firm Bitdefender played its part in the investigation with the release of a universal decryptor that it claimed helped save victims almost £400 million in ransomware payments.10 Log4Shell, a new zero-day vulnerability arrived…On December 9, a major global remote code vulnerability was revealed in Apache’s Log4 – a popular logging system used by developers of web and server applications based on Java and other programming languages. The vulnerability affects a broad range of services and applications on servers globally, making it essential for urgent patching. But even as countless developers work tirelessly to patch the Log4j vulnerability, the effects are wide-ranging and not all companies will fix gaps before damage is wrought. The impact of Log4Shell is predicted to be long-term and wide-ranging.READ MORE: Top CISOS: What I learned in 2021 READ MORE: Ethical 'con artist' Jenny Radcliffe: 4 signs you're about to be breachedEnjoyed this? Sign up for exclusive weekly SC Media insights via our homepage – you'll get the analysis first

Your cyber intelligence source

The 10 defining cyber events of 2021

Related content

Five Named and Charged in SMS Phishing Effort

Businesses Commonly Attacked Outside of Working Hours

Industrial Cybersecurity Under Attack in 2024

Microlise Reports October Cyber-Attack

Thames Water Dismisses Claims on Cyber-Attacks

U.S. Library of Congress Emails Hacked

Infostealer Malware Expected to Increase in Use in 2025

Upcoming Events

The 10 defining cyber events of 2021

Related content

Five Named and Charged in SMS Phishing Effort

Businesses Commonly Attacked Outside of Working Hours

Industrial Cybersecurity Under Attack in 2024

Microlise Reports October Cyber-Attack

Thames Water Dismisses Claims on Cyber-Attacks

U.S. Library of Congress Emails Hacked

Infostealer Malware Expected to Increase in Use in 2025

Upcoming Events

Confirm cancellation

Sign up benefits