In the first six months of 2023, SonicWall threat researchers recorded 3.7 trillion overall intrusion attempts globally, a 21% increase over the same period a year prior. The data, though, reveals two divergent trends, the report said: An increase in low-severity intrusion attempts such as pings and other generally benign actions, and a decrease in medium- and high-severity intrusions. These attempts, also referred to as “malicious intrusions,” fell 7% in the first half of 2023, to 5.3 billion. Intrusion attempts targeting education fell by 59% from a year ago, yet a third of education organizations experienced an intrusion attempt each month in the first half of this year — making education the second-most-targeted industry overall.
