The report, made available by technology services company Dimension Data, has indicated that the businesses and professional services sector received 10% of global ransomware attacks, the third most targeted industry (up from sixth position in 2016), behind finance and technology. It also ranked third in the Americas (9%) and was the most vulnerable sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

As ransomware-related outsourced incident response engagements against financial institutions declined (a drop from 22% in 2016 to 5% in 2017), the business and professional services supply chain segment has clearly become a prime target for trade secrets and intellectual property theft, potentially exposing customer and business partner data.

Technology was the second most cyberattacked industry in 2017, with a 19% attack volume, with business and professional services moving into third place. Interestingly, attacks on the government sector last year dropped to 5% from 9% in 2016.

According to the same source, 2017 registered a massive 350% rise in ransomware, representing 7% of all global malware attacks (up from 1% in 2016), and is set to continue due to the popularity of cyber adversary campaigns.