Written by: Jay H.
Cyber attackers are successfully breaching organizations through brute force attacks, software vulnerabilities, and malicious emails, according to a new report from Kaspersky.
Almost 90 percent of the incidents Kaspersky’s team responded to involved these three factors, providing insight into which attack vectors hackers are successfully using. Brute force attacks and software vulnerabilities each accounted for 31.58 percent of the cases, while 23.68 percent of incidents were from malicious emails.
Once the attackers breached the victim organizations, they wreaked havoc through ransomware and data theft. In most cases, the attacks went unnoticed for weeks or months, demonstrating just how long hackers can be in your system without you even knowing!
Moreover, of the incidents involving software vulnerabilities, only a few vulnerabilities were discovered in 2020. In most cases, the vulnerabilities were several years old, suggesting that timely security updates could have prevented a tenth of the investigated incidents. The lesson learned: you need to ensure that you keep your software up to date and install security updates as they are released to prevent these attacks.
The report also suggested that attackers were switching from targeted attacks to instead going after the “lowest-hanging fruit” – organizations with low levels of cybersecurity. Indeed, organizations that regularly updated their software were 30 percent less likely to become victims, while robust password policies reduced the likelihood by 60 percent.
Don’t be the lowest-hanging fruit
The war against cybercriminals is neverending. Is your organization doing everything it can to avoid becoming a victim to costly ransomware and data loss?
If you cannot confidently say “yes”, then you need to fix that right now. Our managed IT services including network security can protect your business from the devastating effects of a data breach. Contact us today to learn more.
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