In the internet-powered society we currently live in, the dangers of cyber threats are starting to get more and more dangerous than before. Since almost everything can be found online, hackers continue to develop methods to infiltrate companies and institutions. Gone are the days where robbers forcefully break in to a bank. Nowadays, the robbers don’t even need to leave the room and they can steal millions from unsuspecting financial companies. The internet is fascinating, indeed.
But this isn’t from a lack of trying. Slowly but surely, companies across the APAC region—and basically all over the world—are beginning to realize the importance of cybersecurity. As most companies slowly understand the nature of the world today, they have begun increasing their efforts to further improve their online security policies and best practices. Despite this, a new report found out that over 70% of companies reported an incident of a cybersecurity attack in the past year.
The Threats Facing the Security Industry Today
Security firm Cyren teamed up with Osterman Research for the third year to find out the threats we’re currently facing today. By surveying over 200 US and Canadian companies from different industries, the Cyren-Osterman Research report found out some interesting stuff about the current state of the online security industry. For starters, here are the top ten threats every company is dealing with.
- Ransomware attacks (67%)
- A breach of sensitive or confidential data (66%)
- Phishing attacks (62%)
- Malware infiltration through HTTPS/SSL web traffic (54%)
- Targeted attacks/zero-day exploits (54%)
- Shadow IT/employees using unauthorized cloud apps and services (48%)
- Endpoints compromised by botnets (46%)
- Cryptocurrency mining malware being installed on internal PCs or servers (45%)
- Use of CPU by cryptocurrency miners when users visit websites (38%)
- Employees surfing websites that violate company policies (36%)
Ransomware attacks appear to remain the top threat among companies a year after the WannaCry ransomware first broke out. But slowly creeping behind are the sensitive data breaches that plagued the biggest of companies as recent as last month. And to the surprise of no one, phishing attacks made it to the third spot as stated by 44% of companies that revealed they suffered phishing attacks in 2018. The report just proved that these types of attacks are still prevalent and it should be a wake-up call to organizations never to slack off when it comes to cybersecurity.
The Cyren-Osterman report isn’t all bad news. According to the report, 93% of companies took it upon themselves to give their employees special cybersecurity training and phishing awareness training. 49% of companies also increased their budget for cybersecurity by an average of 18% from last year. Good first steps, but they’re clearly not enough to mitigate all threats today and in the future. "Business IT decision-makers clearly need to take a fresh look at their security in order to combat the rising tide of phishing," principal analyst Michael Osterman said in a press release.
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