Ransomware volume doubles in 2021, surpassing 600 million

Cybercriminals use ransomware as a tool to encrypt companies’ essential data. Usually, if an organization has not backed up its information in the cloud, it is doomed for big trouble. They either have to pay a hefty ransom or lose data forever, which could end the business altogether.

What is machine learning? Effects on everyday life and privacy

Machine learning (ML) is a forward-thinking branch of artificial intelligence. It aims to build machines imitating human behavior, primarily…

Education and government sectors suffered most cyberattacks in 2021

Due to lesser investment into cybersecurity, some industries are more vulnerable to cybercriminal attacks. Other industries highly targeted by hackers possess valuable information, which could be exploited by the attacker or even used at the state level.

US data breaches hit record high in 2021 affecting nearly 300 million victims

Every year brings new data breach victims. According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, the volume of publicly reported data compromises in the United States reached a record-high of 1,862, affecting 293.9 million victims.

Topics API: what changes can it bring? [FLoC comparison]

Topics API is the new take on privacy-focused and balanced interest-based advertising. The Topics vision has user-centric goals while…

50% of malicious office documents were downloaded via Google Drive in 2021

Cybercriminals take advantage of legitimate companies' applications to carry out attacks. Widely used Google and Microsoft products often become attacker tools to spread malware because of the large userbase and trustable service, which convinces people to fall for hacker tricks more easily.

Global VPN downloads surge 3x surpassing 780 million in 2021

To get a clear perspective on the current VPN adoption rate in the world, the Atlas VPN research team analyzed Virtual Private Network application downloads in 85 selected countries.

TikTok tracks your data the most out of social media apps

Trackers allow ad services to follow users around the web to learn about their browsing habits. While first-party trackers are stored by the website or app you are visiting directly, third-party trackers can invade your privacy and serve targeted ads based on your preferences.