In a new report, Microsoft states that Russia is responsible for more nation-state cyberattacks than all other nations combined.

“During the past year, 58 percent of all cyberattacks observed by Microsoft from nation-states have come from Russia,” Microsoft corporate vice president Tom Burt writes. “And attacks from Russian nation-state actors are increasingly effective, jumping from a 21 percent successful compromise rate last year to a 32 percent rate this year.”

According to Microsoft, Russian nation-state actors are increasingly targeting government agencies for intelligence gathering from agencies primarily focused on foreign policy, national security, and defense. This figure jumped from 3 percent of its targets one year ago to 53 percent today. The top three targets of these attacks were the United States, Ukraine, and the UK.

After Russia, the largest volume of cyberattacks came from North Korea, Iran, and then China. Iran quadrupled its attacks on Israel in the past year, North Korea which targeted cryptocurrency companies for profit, and Chinese actors have used a range of previously unidentified vulnerabilities and are “remarkably persistent,” Microsoft says.

The 2021 Microsoft Digital Defense Report covers July 2020 to June 2021, during which time over 20,500 cyberattack attempts were made, and Microsoft notes that its findings cover trends across nation-state activity, cybercrime, supply chain security, hybrid work, and disinformation.

You can view the report for free here.

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