The past four weeks have seen a sharp global increase in ‘brute force’ attacks on virtual private network (VPN) services, which supply private networks using encryption over the internet. ‘Brute force’ attacks use trial and error to crack passwords, login credentials, and encryption keys. New life has been breathed into what is an old hacking technique with widely available software using artificial intelligence (AI) that can carry out large numbers of attempts automatically. 

Cisco Talos Intelligence Group reports a sharp rise worldwide in this type of attack against targets, including virtual private network (VPN) services and web authentication interfaces.

“Cisco Talos has been actively monitoring a global increase in brute-force attacks against a variety of targets, including Virtual Private Network (VPN) services, web application authentication interfaces, and SSH services since at least March 18, 2024. The traffic related to these attacks has increased with time and is likely to continue to rise,” predicts Cisco Talos