How important is business network security in your organization? Here are a few stats to consider before answering that question.
1. New Malware is Being Developed & Released at a Breathtaking Pace
For those who believe that the day of anti-malware software has passed, it pays to note that more than 84 million new examples of malware were found and identified during 2015. That adds up to about 230,000 new pieces of malware every day. Trojans were once again the lion's share of malware, representing almost 52 percent of all instances. Trojans are followed by viruses, which account for nearly 23 percent; worms at over 13 percent; and adware and other undesirable software, at just under 2 percent of all instances of malware identified in 2015.
2. More Businesses are Affected by Security Breaches Than are Not
Seventy-one percent of all businesses fell victim to a successful cyber attack in 2014, and 52% are expected to be targeted again in 2015. Overall, business network security incidents grew by 66 percent from 2014-2015. In Europe, incidents were up 41 percent in just one year. In the healthcare industry, attacks grew by about 60 percent. Automotive companies were heavily targeted, with a 32 percent increase in attacks. Power and utility companies saw an increase of a horrifying 527 percent. Tech companies experienced a comparatively low 17 percent increase, though that's still a significantly higher number than one would like to see.
3. Security Breaches are Terribly Costly to Companies
The average business network security breach rings up a tally of $3.5 million, which is a 15 percent increase within just one year. Incidents rack up downtime in chunks of about 8 hours each, meaning most companies lose a full work day when a breach occurs. More than half (54 percent) of businesses involved in a breach report that outsider breaches were the most costly and/or damaging to the business, though the insider attack is definitely on the rise. (More on insider threats in a moment.) Every lost or stolen record costs the business $154. However, businesses that have strong security measures were able to lower this loss by an average of $14 per record.
4. Insider Threats Include Both Purposeful & Accidental Breaches
Not all breaches caused by insiders are intentional. A fair number are done out of ignorance or apathy instead of malice.
The insider threat is commonly used to refer to deliberate acts of malice, but much more frequently, the insider is merely ignorant or careless, leading to a breach. In some countries, the most common source of a cyber security breach is employees, contractors, and other "insiders". In the case of deliberate insider attacks, most are able to commit such acts right in front of their coworkers, without raising any suspicions. Seventy-two percent of security breaches within financial institutions involved a current or former employee. About 41 percent of the incidents with financial institutions involved third parties, such as contractors or outsourcing firms. Within industrial businesses, 62 percent of all business network security incidents involved current or former employees. Three-quarters of businesses that were victims of insider breaches handled the incident internally, without involving law enforcement or other legal measures.
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