The latest Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response (MDR) analyst report shows that government and development industries experienced a significant decrease in the number of high-severity incidents with direct human involvement in 2024, whereas the food, IT, telecom and industrial sectors demonstrated an increase.
The annual Managed Detection and Response (MDR) analyst report provides insights into detected incidents, their nature and their distribution across various industries and geographic regions. Additionally, it emphasises the most common tactics, techniques and tools used by attackers over the previous year. The data is based on analysis of incidents detected by Kaspersky MDR.
Compared to 2023, the mass media, development and telecoms industries experienced a significant increase in the number of incidents. However, when examining high-severity incidents – those that feature direct human involvement – the distribution reveals notable differences. In 2024, the MDR team identified that the majority of high-severity incidents occurred in IT (23%), followed by the government (18%) and industrial sectors (18%).
The report highlights a significant decrease in high-severity incidents within the government and development sectors, while the number of such incidents in the food sector increased. Additionally, a relatively large rise was observed in the industrial sector, alongside a slight increase in retail, IT and telecoms.
Interestingly, despite the mass media sector facing a substantial increase in overall incidents, this trend did not translate into a corresponding rise in high-severity incidents. This observation shows that many attack attempts were swiftly detected and mitigated, effectively preventing their severity from escalating beyond medium levels.
“In 2024, we revealed a shift in the landscape of cyber threats, with high-severity incidents increasingly concentrated in the food sector, underscoring the necessity for cybersecurity measures in this area,” comments Sergey Soldatov, head of security operations centre at Kaspersky.
“While the overall number of incidents surged in sectors like telecom and mass media, the resilience demonstrated in swiftly detecting and neutralising potential threats highlights the importance of proactive measures. As attackers refine their tactics, organisations must adapt by investing in robust cybersecurity solutions that combine advanced technologies with expert oversight.”