If you have noticed a recent uptick in cyberattacks targeting infrastructure and government facilities, you are not alone. Aside from using more sophisticated capabilities, the attacks are coming at us with an alarming frequency.

Now, according to a new study by IBM’s X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services (IRIS) team, destructive attacks devised with an intent to wipe data and shut down critical systems have increased by a whopping 200 percent over the past six months.

IBM said 50 percent of the malware attacks were in the manufacturing, oil and gas, and education sectors. Most of the destructive attacks observed by the team have taken place in Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

The use of destructive malware and ransomware can cost affected organizations $239 million on average, the researchers said — 61 times costlier than the average cost of a data breach ($3.92 million), based on a report released by IBM Security in July. The se