Cybersecurity

Hacktivist attacks dropped by 95% since 2015

Threat intelligence analysts have long said that hacktivism was dead but new data published by IBM X-Force today confirms the complete collapse of hacktivism scene, with activity levels going down by 95% since 2015.

According to IBM, security incidents caused by hacker groups operating under hacktivism causes has been on a decline since 2015, when the company recorded a peak, with 35 publicly reported incidents.

Since then, incidents have gone down at a steady pace, with only five reported in 2017, two in 2018, and zero during the first months of the year.

Attacks from hacktivist groups have continued to happen, but the number of actual incidents (successful breaches) has gone down at a constant pace.

Researchers blame two factors for this decline -- the death of the Anonymous hacker collective and a sustained crackdown by law enforcement officials that have thinned out hacktivist ranks.