Skip to main content

Over half of businesses have suffered a data breach

IT professionals are still struggling to secure their organizations according to new research from McAfee which revealed that 61 percent have experienced a data breach at their current employer.

The firm's new Grand Theft Data II – The Drivers and Shifting State of Data Breaches report surveyed IT professionals from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Singapore, the US and the UK across a wide range of industries to learn more about today's security landscape.

The report found that data breaches are also becoming more serious as cybercriminals continue to target intellectual property putting the reputation of company's brands at risk and increasing their financial liability.

McAfee's study shows the need for a cybersecurity strategy that includes implementing security solutions combined with employee training and an overall culture of security throughout the organization to reduce future breaches.

Severity of data breaches

The report also revealed that data is now being stolen using a wider range of methods with no single technique dominating the industry. Database leaks, cloud applications and removable USB drivers were the top vectors used to exfiltrate data.

McAfee found that personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property (IP) are now tied as the data categories with the highest potential impact to 43 percent of respondents. PII is of greater concern in Europe (49%) due to the recent enforcement date of GDPR.

When it came to taking responsibility for a breach, 55 percent of IT professionals believe that c-level executives should lose their job if a breach is serious enough though 61 percent also said that the c-level executives they work with expect more lenient security policies for themselves.

Vice president and chief technical strategist at McAfee, Candace Worley offered advice on how organizations can better protect themselves from data breaches, saying:

“Threats have evolved and will continue to become even more sophisticated. Organisations need to augment security measures by implementing a culture of security and emphasising that all employees are part of an organisation’s security posture, not just the IT team. To stay ahead of threats, it is critical companies provide a holistic approach to improving security process by not only utilising an integrated security solution but also practicing good security hygiene.” 



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news http://bit.ly/2V493FG

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The future of Magic Leap's promising AR efforts dim after layoffs

The Magic Leap Two is now further away than ever, unfortunately. Today in a blog post the augmented reality pioneer announced major layoffs and has decided to cut up to half of its workforce, according to some reports. The original Magic Leap One was supposed to be one of the first mainstream augmented reality headsets when it launched in 2018, but a high price point and lack of interest from developers left the headset high and dry after launch. According to the blog post, Magic Leap says it will be focusing its efforts on enterprise solutions (a statement HTC has made recently as well) and shift its focus away from consumer technology… at least for the time being.  The company has been open about creating a second headset that would offer improved specs for some time, but how that work will now have to go forward without half of the team , according to some estimates, remains to be seen. Is the window closing on augmented reality?  Although it’s just one company, Magic...

Airship acquires SMS commerce company ReplyBuy

Airship is announcing that it has acquired mobile commerce startup ReplyBuy . The startup (which was a finalist at TechCrunch’s 1st and Future competition in 2016) works with customers like entertainment venues and professional and college sports teams to send messages and sell tickets to fans via SMS. It raised $4 million in funding from Sand Hill Angels, Kosinski Ventures, SEAG Ventures, Enspire Capital, MRTNZ Ventures and others, according to Crunchbase . Airship, meanwhile, has been expanding its platform beyond push notifications to cover customer communication across SMS, email, mobile wallets and more. But CEO Brett Caine said this is the first time the company is moving into commerce. While sports and concerts tickets might not be a booming market right now, Caine suggested that the company is actually seeing increased purchasing activity “in and around the Airship platform” as businesses try to drive more in-app purchases. He also suggested that both the COVID-19 pandem...