Adedokun Waliyu 
Recent data published by Check Point Software, an IT security company, indicates that global cyberattacks increased by 38 per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year, with North America seeing 52 per cent rise.
Canada, however, apparently only saw a 20 per cent increase in cyberattacks, according to a company news release.
According to the report, these cyberattack figures were driven by smaller and agile hacker and ransomware gangs who focused on exploiting collaboration tools used in work-from-home environments.
It found that, globally, education/research, government/military and health care were the top three most targeted industries in 2022.
Education/research experienced an average of 2,314 attacks per organization every week, an increase of 43 per cent from the previous year. Government/military organizations were attacked an average of 1,661 times weekly, an increase of 46 per cent. Health care organizations endured an average of 1,463 attacks weekly, an increase of 74 per cent.
The report also warns that cyberattack activity may increase with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, which could potentially make it possible for hackers to generate malicious code and emails at a faster, more automated pace. ChatGPT is an AI app designed to mimic human-like speech.
