Persistent Hacking Attempts from Russia, Vietnam, Bulgaria etc...

I'm wondering if there's something I can do to improve security on my UTM.

I' have been bombarded for years but there has been an uptick recently.

I'm also getting traffic from a research organization in Europe called ReCyber which appears to be a security-centric organization perhaps trying to get a handle on all the hacking going on.  I am a home/free user.  Would a paid license improve anything appreciably?

I've taken to blocking inbound traffic  from all countries including the US, so nothing gets in.  My UTM never identifies anything, even if I have a viral infection on my net.

What are other people doing?  I appear to be singled out for some reason... I think.  I wonder if someone noticed improved security on my side and decided to 'really try' to get in.  I'm just guessing. 

Oh yes, my laptop was actually hacked on a trip this year and I did have in on my home network, so I imagine the nefarious folks did get traffic from this network identifying it as a target.  That would probably be it.

Thanks in advance.