Ransomware threats increased fourfold during 2024, likely driven by prolific Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) activity, according to Barracuda’s annual review of XDR detection and incident data.

According to findings from the Barracuda report, email threats that made it through to user inboxes were the fifth most detected threat overall, highlighting the growing risk of sophisticated and evasive attacks enabled by Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platforms.

In 2024, Barracuda Managed XDR logged 11 trillion IT events — around 350,000 events per second — to identify a million potential risks and thousands of incidents that required immediate defensive action.

The most common threats targeting XDR-protected systems in 2024 show where threat actors expect customers to be most vulnerable. They include inadequate authentication measures for account logins, poor password policies, and a lack of education about social engineering, alongside under-protected VPNs and the poorly managed use of remote desktop protocols.

According to Barracuda, cyberattacks are also getting faster. Advances in security tools and strategies mean that intruders are now more easily and quickly detected and removed from the network, seeing threat actors responding by accelerating their attacks.

“The rise of as-a-service platforms is helping to power the growing sophistication, agility, and evasive nature of cyberattacks, from ransomware to phishing,” said Eric Russo, Director, SOC Defensive Security, Barracuda.

“The developers behind these platforms often have the time, resources, and skills to invest heavily in advanced and evasive toolsets and templates. Organizations need deep, extended security to boost their defenses and cyber resilience against such attacks. “A comprehensive XDR solution that integrates network, endpoint, server, cloud, and email security means that every corner of the digital infrastructure is monitored and protected with advanced security measures and a full spectrum of defensive tools, combined with proactive threat hunting and response strategies.”