Targeted cyberattacks based on IP theft are being conducted against both the manufacturing industry and smaller businesses, which are likely to have less income to invest in shoring up their defenses against attack. Symantec says that SMBs — with fewer than 250 employees — now account for 31 percent of targeted attacks, and are often seen as a means to gain access to larger firms through “watering hole” techniques. The average number of targeted attacks has increased to an average of 116 per day, made popular by the Elderwood Gang which was able to infect 500 firms in 24 hours. An interesting point highlighted within the report is that 61 percent of malicious websites are actually legitimate; targeted by hackers who exploit vulnerabilities and create diversions or channels for malware to be installed on a victim’s PC. Business, technology and ecommerce websites are most likely to be affected due to unpatched website vulnerabilities, and once malware has been downloaded, ransomware is a popular choice for hackers to get their money’s worth — especially when they buy legitimate advertising space to hide their code.