Dallas, Oct. 2, 2015: AT&T has said in a report that businesses experienced about 43 million security incidents in 2014, up 48 percent from 2013. That equals 117,000 attacks daily, the company said.
The AT&T’s first Cybersecurity Insights Report offers a look into the technological and operational gaps where attacks occur.
“Every company either has been breached or will be breached,” said Ralph de la Vega, Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions, in a s press statement. “Keeping a business protected should be a company-wide priority. Every employee, contractor, and administrator is responsible for keeping security top of mind.”
The AT&T report said there was a 62% increase in the number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, or attacks that disrupted company operations, over the past 2 years. And AT&T has seen a dramatic 458% increase in the number of times hackers searched Internet of Things (IoT) connections for vulnerabilities.
However, not all businesses are taking action:
- Nearly 75 percent of businesses do not involve their full board of directors in cybersecurity oversight
- Approximately 51 percent of organizations are not re-evaluating their information security as a result of high-visibility data breaches
- Roughly 78 percent of all employees do not follow the security policies set forth by their employer
With the dramatic increase in hacker activity, AT&T believes that sharing its security insights and expertise will help others stay protected. In the Cybersecurity Insights Report, it has outlined the primary security threats businesses face both inside and outside of their companies:
- Corporate espionage: Spies looking to steal intellectual property
- Nation States: Groups looking to access information for their own benefit or cause
- Organized cybercrime: Digital criminals that act using malware and hacking to extract information for financial gain
- Hacktivists: Groups of hackers that use cyberattacks to promote social change or impact public policy
- Malicious insiders: Employees or those with internal access that use company information for their own gain
- Every executive should consider who has access to various types of information, and why their business might be a target. They need to know how security teams should communicate information to their board.
To help businesses and consumers stay connected and up to date on the latest security news, AT&T has also launching a new version of its Online Security Resource Center.This portal will help keep businesses, individuals, and security professionals informed and prepared daily to tackle the latest current security threats.
You may also want to read: Security for IoT devices – a growing concern
Image Credit: AT&T