2024’s Cybersecurity and Claims Trends Decoded to Build Cyber Resilience in 2025

Cybercrime surged at an alarming pace in 2024, leaving businesses and individuals grappling with rising costs and mounting cyber risks. Today, a cyberattack happens every 39 seconds. 

By year’s end, cybercrime will cost the world US$9.5 trillion annually – a number that’s predicted to climb to $10.5 trillion annually in 2025.  

The third quarter of 2024 alone marked a record 75% increase in cyberattacks on organizations worldwide compared to the same period last year, with an average of 1,876 cyberattacks per organization recorded. 

“The sheer volume and intensity of cyber threats show just how fast cybercriminals are adapting – and why it’s more important than ever to step up your defences and prepare for what’s next,” says Jack Brooks, Head of BOXX Insurance Hackbusters and vCISO. 

Global claims and BOXX’s cyber intelligence data for 2024 reflects the worldwide spike in cyberattacks, Brooks adds. “We look at claims data and cybersecurity trends not only to stay ahead of emerging threats but also to empower our business clients with actionable insights to predict, prepare, and insure against the evolving cyber landscape,” he says.  

Top Cyber Claims Trends in 2024  

1. Financial Crime: The Most Prevalent Type of Cybercrime 

According to BOXX’s 2024 claims data intelligence, financial crime remained the most prevalent type of cybercrime, echoing global and industry trends.  

There are many ways for cybercriminals to orchestrate financial crime schemes and business email compromise (BEC) is a popular tactic. The FBI reported BEC scams caused over $2.9 billion in losses in 2023, and this threat only grew more sophisticated in 2024. 

In a BEC scam, fraudsters use publicly available information to target executives, finance staff, HR managers and even new hires. Posing as someone trustworthy, they trick victims into paying fake invoices or sharing sensitive information like passwords, Brooks explains. AI makes this even easier and harder to detect – criminals can use machine learning to identify the best targets and create convincing, personalized emails. 

“BEC attacks often leverage data from other breaches, such as stolen Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) tokens, to hijack online accounts, spread malware, or steal funds,” Brooks explains. 

Criminals will also leverage email spoofing, a tactic that uses a fraudulent domain that is similar to a company’s domain. Using the fake email address and leveraging social engineering tactics, the cybercriminals can trick busy staff to take actions that they can exploit, such as information gathering and payment detail modification.  

“Financial crime attacks driven by BEC remain one of the easier types of cybercrimes to prevent with simple validation protocols like email sender verification, staff education, email filters and the implementation of robust MFA,” Brooks says.  

2. Social Engineering: Increasingly Targeting Clients   

Social engineering attempts, in particular those targeting clients of companies – remained one of the fastest growing threats in 2024, accounting for 60% of all Financial Crime and Fraud cyber incidents, BOXX cyber intelligence data shows. 

“The spike in Client Social Engineering (CSE) attacks highlights how cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting business relationships, tricking clients of a trusted company into transferring money or divulging sensitive information,” Brooks explains. 

Common methods in CSE attempts include sending fake invoices with “updated” (fraudulent) payment information and urgent requests to “verify your account details.” 

Successful social engineering attacks, including tactics like phishing, smishing and spear phishing, trick people into clicking on malicious links, share passwords or download malware – and can lead to data breaches, financial losses and reputational harm.  

Globally by Q2 2024, more than 90% of all cyber threats involved social engineering. Small businesses remain especially vulnerable – companies with fewer than 100 employees receive 350% more social engineering attacks than larger enterprises. 

“The data reflects how cybercriminals are prioritizing social engineering tactics, because they are ‘low-effort, high-reward’ – meaning they’re easy to execute and yield high returns. With the increased sophistication of AI, these attacks are scalable highly convincing and much harder to spot,” Brooks explains.  

“It’s more important than ever for businesses and individuals to strengthen cybersecurity measures like MFA, validate client communication and respond swiftly when things go wrong. We’ve seen clients recover funds faster when they contact their banks immediately.”

3. Ransomware: Persistent and Evolving 

According to Sophos’ annual State of Ransomware 2024, the average ransom payment increased 500% over the last year. Despite a slight reduction in the rate of ransomware attacks in 2024 (59% compared to 66% last year), organizations that paid a ransom forked out an average $2 million this year compared to $400,000 in 2023. 

In Q3 2024, North America accounted for almost 60% of all ransomware incidents reported worldwide, reports Checkpoint.   

Ransomware attacks are the most costly cyberattacks, often resulting in significant business disruption or even business closures due to financial or reputational damage. Yet only 66% of Canadian companies have a plan to address potential ransomware attacks. 

“Emerging trends we’ve seen include criminals making more frequent, smaller ransom demands, aimed at targeting a larger number of businesses. And often, ransomware is being deployed as a secondary step after data theft,” Brooks says. 

Sophos data showed exploited vulnerabilities were the most common root cause of ransomware attacks in 2024, followed by compromised credentials and malicious emails. The majority (84%) of organizations hit by ransomware this past year said cybercriminals tried to compromise their backups – almost 60% of these attempts were successful.  

“Vulnerabilities like outdated software, unpatched systems and poor cloud security leave businesses vulnerable to ransomware and data theft,” Brooks adds, emphasizing the need to prioritize Endpoint Protection and Response (EDR) solutions and robust backups to mitigate these risks.