Ransomware Remains a Top Cybersecurity Threat, Says Verizon
Global organizations should be vigilant when it comes to ransomware. According to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report. Ransomware is the most common type of malware, found in 39 percent of malware-related data breaches – double that of last year’s DBIR– and accounts for over 700 incidents. Verizon’s analysis shows that attacks are now moving into business critical systems, which encrypt file servers or databases, inflicting more damage and commanding bigger ransom requests.
“Businesses find it difficult to keep abreast of the threat landscape, and continue to put themselves at risk by not adopting dynamic and proactive security strategies,” says George Fischer, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “Verizon gives businesses data-driven, real-life views on the cyber-threat landscape, not only through the DBIR series but also via our comprehensive range of intelligent security solutions and services. This 11th edition of the DBIR gives in-depth information and analysis on what’s really going on in cybercrime, helping organizations to make intelligent decisions on how best to protect themselves.”
Sixty-eight percent of breaches took months or longer to discover, even though 87 percent of the breaches examined had data compromised within minutes or less of the attack taking place. While safety cannot be guaranteed, proactive steps can be taken to help keep organizations from being victims. These are:
- Stay vigilant – log files and change management systems can give you early warning of a breach.
- Make people your first line of defense – train staff to spot the warning signs.
- Keep data on a “need to know” basis – only employees that need access to systems to do their jobs should have it.
- Patch promptly – this could guard against many attacks.
- Encrypt sensitive data – make your data next to useless if it is stolen.
- Use two-factor authentication – this can limit the damage that can be done with lost or stolen credentials.
- Don’t forget physical security – not all data theft happens online.
Get more details at Verizon.com
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