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Cyberattacks Targeting Big Companies Up 40%

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Five out of six companies with more than 2,500 employees were targeted in cyberattacks in 2014, representing a 40% increase last year, according to Symantec’s annual Internet Security Threat Report. But by no means does that imply big businesses are the primary target: 60% of all targeted attacks struck small- and medium-sized organizations.

The spear-fishing and fraudulent email scams deployed in these hacks have also become more effective. Overall, 14% less email was used to infiltrate an organization’s network, yet 2014 saw a 13% increase in attackers as the cause of a data breach, and the total number of breaches rose from 253 in 2013 to 312 in 2014. This notable increase in precision is a clear indication that companies are not updating their defenses to match current threats.

Fortifying against cyberbreach continues to demand even more concerted effort as malicious actors grow more sophisticated, introducing more and better malware to their campaigns. “While advanced targeted attacks may grab the headlines, non-targeted attacks still make up a majority of malware, which increased by 26% in 2014,” Symantec reported. More than 317 million new pieces of malware were created last year, meaning almost a million new threats were released daily.

Changes in the top causes of data breach offer both good and bad news. While 13% more cyberbreaches were caused by attackers and breaches due to insider theft increased 3%, Symantec found that 15% fewer were due to accidental exposure, theft or loss.

Check out the infographics below for more of Symantec’s findings and insights on how hackers operate:

Symantec 2015 Internet Security Threat Report

Symantec Path of a Cyber Attacker

 

Guarding Against PoSeidon and Other Point-of-Sale Breaches

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According to Cisco’s Security Solutions team, there is a new malware family targeting point-of-sale (PoS) systems, infecting machines to scrape memory for credit card information and send the payment card data to servers for harvesting and, likely, resale. This malware, which the group has nicknamed PoSeidon, works like this:

Unlike other PoS memory scrapers that store captured payment card data locally until attackers log in to download it, PCWorld reported, PoSeidon communicates directly with external servers and can update itself automatically, and also has defenses against reverse engineering.

PoS malware using the “memory scraping” technique also caused the Home Depot and Target data breaches. In the latter, hackers were able to save names, credit card numbers, expiration dates, security codes from the backs of cards and encrypted PINs when at least 40 million customers swiped at in-store registers.

“The new PoSeidon malware has retailers on alert, particularly as the frequency and relative ease with which POS system breaches are occurring is forcing them to take a closer look at their IT infrastructure and reassess how secure it actually is,” said Andrew Avanessian, EVP of consultancy and technology services at security firm Avecto. “It is also prompting many to ask, what will it take to get ahead of these attacks?”

Avanessian believes the answer is clear: a more defense-in-depth approach to security. “While perimeter technologies like firewalls can prevent against certain types of external attack, it cannot block malware that has already found its way onto endpoints within an organization,” he explained.

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“With a multi-layered security strategy that incorporates solutions like patching, application whitelisting and privilege management, organizations can more effectively protect against the spread of malware, defending their valuable assets and ultimately their reputation.”

As I wrote in the March 2014 issue of Risk Management, the adoption of EMV chip technology presents one of the most promising ways to increase PoS security. Already common in Europe, EMV technology—named for its founders, Eurocard, MasterCard and Visa—utilizes embedded chips that, unlike magnetic strips, make it nearly impossible to counterfeit cards. In Europe, 81% of cards have EMV chips, and countries that have adopted the technology saw sharp declines in credit card fraud. Meanwhile, the United States accounts for 27% of worldwide credit transactions, but sees 47% of card fraud.

As organizations roll-out chip and pin technology across the country, these breaches may start to decline, Avanessian agrees, but he urges a more holistic approach to fighting PoSeidon and other PoS malware. “EMV (or chip-and-pin) will absolutely help stop card fraud, however, retailers should not become complacent and think this is the silver bullet they have been waiting for,” he said. “Yes it will help stop fraud once the details have been stolen, but it does not stop businesses from being breached. Companies gather a huge amount of data about their patrons, such as names and addresses, and this data is still valuable to fraudsters.

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Unless retails take a multi-layer defense-in-depth approach to security, they will still get breached.”

To prevent consumers from losing and shopping elsewhere, Avanessian believes it is critical to evolve the means of combatting cyberattack just as the means of hacking has changed. “In our experience, retailers are still relying on antiquated ‘detection’-based technologies to keep the bad guys out. They all spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on detection, yet they still get breached,” he said.

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“The world has changed, the players have changed, cyberattacks are now a trillion dollar industry—the approach has to change.”

New Year Resolutions for Better Enterprise Security

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Forecasting what the IT security landscape will look like in the year ahead has become an annual technology tradition, and following 2014 as the Year of the Data Breach, I think anyone could make a fairly accurate guess as to what the major trend of the New Year will be: more data breaches.

Forty-three percent of organizations reported a data breach in the past year, a figure that Forrester predicts will rise up to 60% in 2015. And it’s not just the frequency of breaches that we will see escalate in the year ahead, but also that malware will be increasingly difficult to dismantle. P2P, darknet and tor communications will become more prevalent, and forums selling malware and stolen data will retreat further into hidden corners of the Internet in an attempt to avoid infiltration.

By now, it is no longer a matter of if your business is going to be breached, but when. The last thing any organization needs as we enter another year of risk, is a blind side. The good news, though, is that there are ways to prevent them if we act immediately.

We know that an increase in cyber-attacks by stealthier hackers and more sophisticated malware is a sensible prediction – more important, now, is thinking about our resolutions, and how to prepare against what may be lurking ahead.

Here are my top New Year Resolutions for better enterprise security in 2015:

Layer Proactive Defenses

In 2014, many businesses were bitten by data breaches despite spending millions on state-of-the-art, next-generation solutions. In 2015, organizations will have to think smarter and build security from the ground up, layering defenses rather than relying on next-gen panaceas.

Furthermore, this kind of multi-layered approach should encompass more proactive measures – reactive “detective” tactics no longer cut it. Malware has always been hard to detect, and yet I see company after company relying too closely on detection technologies like antivirus (which, believe it or not, works only 50% of the time at best).

Lock Down Data

Following widespread data losses in 2014, businesses should resolve to lock down access to corporate systems and data. This starts with implementing greater control over user accounts and administrative privileges. Employees should always be logging onto systems as a standard user, and even then, businesses need to continue to control and monitor access to files and databases with active anomaly detection. Regular reviews of user roles and their access requirements should become a standard practice.

Ask More Questions

Heartbleed, Shellshock and recently, SChannel attacks have all shaken our confidence in common protocols that underpin much of the internet. Organizations need to practice greater scrutiny in evaluating what is offered by their selected vendors to ensure patching is swift and targeted. Far more questions should be asked around vendors’ processes for code auditing and testing.

Look to Two-Factor Authentication

Many of the attacks of 2014 could have been prevented by two-factor authentication, from the iCloud breach to the eBay compromise. Organizations should be looking to implement two-factor authentication as a way to prevent stolen or shared credentials being used against them. While this method is not a comprehensive solution to address all the security threats we’ll likely face, it does introduce a much needed layer of security.

Don’t Let Security Get in the Way

Stringent security practices are absolutely essential, but they can become a double-edged sword. Locking down system access for instance, although it significantly boosts the organization’s overall security posture, can strike a serious blow to end user productivity. Security must always be top of mind for IT organizations, but you’d be surprised at how quickly appetite to risk changes when its implementation reduces employees’ freedom and flexibility. Here is where deploying strategies like least privilege and sandboxing can have a significant impact by creating a productive and positive working experience for users, without compromising security.

In 2015, businesses should resolve to think smarter about their approach to security. It’s easy to become enamored by the latest glitzy perimeter solutions and invest heavily in next-gen antivirus and firewalls. But, making the most of those investments means thinking more strategically about how they can be layered with more proactive measures and additional safety nets to create a truly defense-in-depth framework. Most of all, we must strive to act on the greatest good principle. After all, IT isn’t the only business stakeholder, and finding a security solution that allows for a seamless user experience is what will most effectively drive adoption – and greater security success.

Ransomware Threats a Concern

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Takeover by ransomware–malware installed on computers that allows criminals to remotely lock the computer and demand a ransom to release files and programs–is a concern to 88% of IT professionals, a study by Spiceworks found.

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What’s more, almost one-third of IT pros have experienced a ransomeware attack at their organization.

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According to Microsoft, ransomware is usually installed when a malicious email attachment is opened; or by clicking a malicious link in an email message, instant message or on a website, including a social networking site. Ransomware can even be installed when simply visiting a malicious website.

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You can find out more about ransomware and what to do about it below: