Cybersecurity concerns have been top-of-mind for many of us in recent days ever since the news broke that Capital One Financial Corp. experienced a major hack, with millions of records exposed.
The incident involved the personal information of approximately 106 million Capital One card applicants and customers, according to The Wall Street Journal article “Capital One Breach Casts Shadow Over Cloud Security.” The data was stored via Amazon Web Services, and, as a result, the breach has spurred questions about how safe cloud storage really is.
This high-profile data breach serves as yet another reminder for us all to remain vigilant and aware of cybersecurity risks. Hackers are constantly coming up with newer and craftier ways to get around IT security defenses and access sensitive information. New types of malicious software get released every day.
It’s more important than ever for business leaders to stay informed about the IT security threat landscape to stay ahead of cybercriminals and safeguard customers’ data. If you’re an IT manager or executive at any sort of company, here are some statistics that you should see that provide vital perspective on the status of cybersecurity and cybercrime today.
Data Breach Prevalence, Frequency and Origins
There were 1,244 data breaches reported in 2018 (Source: Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) 2018 End-of-Year Data Breach Report).
Those breaches exposed 446,515,334 records containing sensitive information, in addition to 1.68 billion non-sensitive records (Source: ITRC).
The majority (52 percent) of breaches involve hacking, and 69 percent are carried out by outsiders (Source: Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report).
Errors are part of the cause of 21 percent of breaches (Source: Verizon’s DBIR).
Data Breach Targeting
The majority (71 percent) of breaches are financially motivated (Source: Verizon’s DBIR).
Nearly half (43 percent) of breaches involve small business victims (Source: Verizon’s DBIR).
More than half (58 percent) of small and medium-sized businesses report experiencing a data breach during the past 12 months, but only 28 percent of SMBs say their ability to respond to attacks, combat threats and address vulnerabilities is “highly effective” (Source: Ponemon Institute’s 2018 State of Cybersecurity in Small & Medium Size Businesses report).
Cloud Security
Although data in the cloud is relatively safe, 93 percent of cybersecurity professionals say they’re moderately to extremely concerned about public cloud security (Source: (ISC)2 2019 Cloud Security Report).
Roughly one out of every four organizations (28 percent) report experiencing a cloud security incident during the past 12 months (Source: (ISC)2).
Malware Prevalence and Origins
The AV-TEST Institute, an independent cybersecurity research organization, registers more than 350,000 new malicious programs and potentially unwanted applications every day (Source: AV-TEST).
The median company receives upwards of 90 percent of their detected malware via email (Source: Verizon’s DBIR).
Anti-Virus Effectiveness
On average, anti-virus is effective at blocking only 43 percent of cyberattacks (Source: Ponemon Institute’s 2018 State of Endpoint Security Risk report).
Taken together, all of these statistics illustrate a reality in which hackers target businesses of all sizes, new types of threats emerge constantly, and traditional solutions like anti-virus on their own aren’t enough to fend off the onslaught of cybercrime.
To successfully avoid becoming a data breach victim, your business must invest in advanced cybersecurity solutions, such as a next-gen firewall, network and endpoint managed detection and response, and proactive round-the-clock monitoring, among others.
Ultimately, no matter what industry you’re in or how big or small your business, building a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy is imperative if you want to avoid a data breach, which could cost you not only revenue but also your customers’ trust. An IT security assessment is a great first step if you’re looking to improve your security posture, since you’ll need to identify current vulnerabilities in your network and IT environment.
If you’d like to learn more about what you can do to protect your business and safeguard your clients’ data, Stratosphere Networks has cybersecurity experts on staff who would be happy to answer your questions. You can reach us by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
