In 2020 cyber defenders have seen a high level of innovation from cybercriminals, who leveraged new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to maintain persistent and counter incident response efforts. At an alarming rate, transnational organized crime groups and spies leveraged cybercrime tools and services to conduct a wide range of crimes against government agencies and financial institutions. Criminals shared resources and information and reinvested their illicit profits into the development of new, more destructive capabilities.

From February to May 2020, amid the COVID-19 surge, cyberattacks against the financial sector increased by 238 percent. VMware and Carahsoft discussed the lessons learned from recent attacks against the financial sector and how we can best secure the digital transformation efforts of government agencies.