Category: Statistics

“We are reaching a tipping point where the majority of companies we surveyed now rank cyber security risks as high as other major insurable business risks,” said Michael Bruemmer, vice president at Experian Data Breach Resolution.

Among those companies that had an incident in the past 24 months, 70 percent of respondents said the experience increased their interest in these policies.

However, those costs are only a fraction of the average maximum financial exposure that the companies surveyed (breached or not) believe they could suffer because of cyber incidents. Respondents quantified the average potential maximum financial risk of a data breach at $163 million, with some projecting more than $500 million in damages.

For those firms that chose to go without coverage, 43 percent indicated that it is because of the cost and too many exclusions, restrictions and uninsurable risks.

“Going through the process of evaluating cyber insurance for their company, 62 percent of the people said that they felt like their company was in a better state of readiness because of going through the process of evaluating cyber insurance, which means that just the preparation and awareness help to improve their level of capability for an incident response for a data breach,” said Bruemmer.

Link: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/08/07/301071.htm

The Juniper Networks Mobile Threats Centre (MTC) identified more than 500 third-party “alternative” app stores globally where our researchers found mobile malware. They are also quite popular for device users who “jailbreak” or root their phones, and are looking for pirated or unsanctioned apps. Of these alternative app stores, three out of five are in China or Russia, markets infamous for malware.

The Juniper Networks Mobile Threats Centre (MTC) is studying the types of permissions users are required to give to apps in order to install them. Building on that research, Juniper found was an increase in the number of permissions required with free applications much more likely to ask for large amounts of information.

Link: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/mobile-malware-attacks-grow-614-in-year-to-march-study–951813

Sixty-nine percent of Canadian companies have reported some kind of cyber attack over the past year, indicating that cyber crime is fairly prevalent among Canadian businesses, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study, conducted by The International Cyber Security Protection Alliance, a non-profit organization comprising large national and multi-national companies, was based on 520 small, medium and large Canadian businesses.

About a quarter of those interviewed said that attacks had a considerable impact on their business both in terms of financial loss and reputational damage, with a total of more than 5 million Canadian dollars loss reported.

Large businesses are somewhat better prepared than medium and small ones, but still much remains to be done to prevent and deal with such attacks.

The help of external agencies to assist with cyber crime incidents was reported by 44 percent of affected organizations, with private agencies far more likely to be engaged than those from government.

The study reinforced the need for close collaboration between the public and private sector in fighting cyber crime through the pooling of knowledge and resources, it said.

Link: http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2013-05/09/content_16487561.htm

The study released Wednesday found that of the businesses surveyed, about 70 per cent had no procedure in place to deal with a successful hack and only 22 per cent actually looked to identify where they were most vulnerable.

There was even less awareness of the government’s cyber-security strategy, with about seven per cent of respondents aware of the document that was released in 2010, and about 12 per cent aware of the government’s cybercrime prevention campaigns.

Of the 520 businesses surveyed in the national study, 69 per cent reported some kind of digital attack against them in the previous 12 months, with one-quarter saying the attack had “considerable” effects on their business.

The telephone survey of 520 companies across Canada touched on companies in six industries — financial services, airlines and shipping, telecommunications, critical infrastructure, aerospace and defence, and retail — and companies with revenues from under $1 million up to more than $100 million.

In a small number of cases recorded by Verizon it was a customer that discovered the breach, causing embarrassment for the business and its reputation.

Verizon argues that there are three key types of hackers who target online data; criminals, who are motivated by financial gain, spies, who are state sponsored – often by Russia and China – and are looking to steal industrial or military secrets for their country and activists (or hacktivists) who aim to cause maximum disruption and embarrassment to their victims.

State sponsored spies, contrary to common belief, used relatively simple phishing types of attacks focused on garnering important data from weak links in organisations. Criminals, said the report, were the most sophisticated of the three groups, with hacktivists relying upon relatively quick and simple methods that caused public embarrassment, rather than financial damage.

Link: http://www.ihotdesk.co.uk/article/801575682/75-percent-of-cyber-attacks-are-opportunistic#axzz2RKSggmsF