We typically associate late July with a few things – school’s out, the sun is (usually) shining and, most excitedly, the SonicWall mid-year threat report comes out.

One of the most exciting assets in cybersecurity, the Positive team has once again knocked it out of the park. With coverage in major nationals like the Financial Times, crypto publications including the Block and Decrypt, as well as old core-tech favourites such as Computer Weekly, it was another great success. Below, the team recaps how they found this year’s iteration of the report. 

Phoebe Campbell-Rees – Senior Account Executive 

Without a doubt, one of the best parts of this job is launching the threat report. The prestige of the report and the authority of its data provides the perfect opportunity for us to flex our muscles, and speak to lots of journalists. From old contacts to new names, we ensure they’re up to date on the current threat landscape and its implications.

These conversations with journalists are anything from letting them know when the report is dropping, to introducing its data and how it relates to someone’s beat for the very first time. This is the beauty of this asset, despite many nationals awaiting its arrival every year, there will always be those who haven’t yet been introduced to the go-to report for anyone talking about cyber, the SonicWall threat report. For this reason, it’s such a privilege to work on this team and be part of its evolution. 

Ellie Dibdin – Account Executive 

The threat-report release is always looked forward to within our team. It is a really exciting time for us to work together to secure top-tier coverage for our clients. Although, coupled with this excitement is the fact that it takes a lot of preparation. The build-up for a report release is intense, making sure pitches are written and ready, top-tier targets are identified and the best possible angles are discovered. The fun then begins, explaining to journalists what the report entails and what key data has been identified which will wow and educate the British press, from truly the best in the field. 

Carl Escoffier – Account Manager

Any data-based report requires as much prep time as possible. Not only will you have your headline statistic but you’ll want to do a thorough analysis of the data to ensure you haven’t missed out on any key angles.

Typically, a lot of the threat report success we see is based on the increase in ransomware attacks; this data and analysis have helped SonicWall be a household name on the subject. However, this year, the data in the mid-year threat report showed a decline in ransomware attacks, for the first time in what feels like forever. So,we had to change our tact, highlighting other forms of attacks.

That was, however, until we took a close look at the month-by-month data, and while there was an overall decline, the past three months showed ransomware skyrocketed. This angle was immediately more favourable to security writers, leading to more coverage!