Watchguard Analysis Surfaces Major Spike In Malware Detections
Security Boulevard, Friday, July 11th, 2025
An analysis of cyberattacks shared this week by Watchguard Technologies finds there was a 171% increase in total unique network malware detections and a 712% increase in endpoint detections in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the previous quarter.
At the same time, the number of ransomware attacks declined 85% from the previous quarter, even though the second most detected malware threat was a ransomware payload known as Termite. As data backup and recovery capabilities have improved, cybercriminals appear to be shifting away from encryption-based extortion toward simply stealing data, according to the report.
It's also worth noting the unique number of network signatures triggered, or known attacks detected on networks, decreased by 16% from last quarter as attackers focused on a narrower set of exploits.