In order to have an idea of the scale of the online phenomenon of online security threats and
their consequences on all businesses, from small to large, we have compiled some of the most interesting and worrisome statistics from the last couple of years.
While the seriousness of these attacks may have varied, it has always led to losses of some
sort. Most of the surveyed businesses had to spend important amounts of money to counter the attack. In 38% of the cases, 50.000$ or more were lost by the company. The attacks led to
loss of data and business interruption in more than half the cases.
About half of all cyber attacks are directed at small businesses
While some sources claim that 43% of attacks are directed at small businesses, Verizon has
found this percentage to be 58%, in their 2018 study. We’ve mentioned this issue before.
The reason why so many small enterprises are targeted is that they are less likely to have
invested time and money into data loss prevention and cyber security, making them easy
targets.
Ransomware attacks have decreased in 2018 - only to be replaced by cryptomining
Ransomware had made the headlines in worldwide media after the wannacry crisis in 2017,
when an estimated 200k-400k computers were affected by this type of security breach. Good
news is that since then, this type of attack has been decreasing. In 2018, it was 30% less
common. Bad news is that other threats are on the rise. Cryptominers are now the most
common type of attack worldwide. This type of attack takes control of your computer and
uses its resources to mine cryptocurrency, slowing down your activity significantly in the
process.
Healthcare organizations are among the most vulnerable against cyber-attacks
These organizations are often targeted because of the detailed personal data they store about their patients. Names, addresses, social security numbers, health insurance information and medical history. Access to this type of data means that hackers could impersonate a patient, use his/her credentials to obtain expensive medication or medical services. Also, for healthcare organizations, data loss and/or blocked servers can result in potential loss of lives, which is why hospitals and other similar practices are more willing to pay the hackers in order to restore functionality. Then it’s no wonder that some reports have found over 75% of healthcare organizations to have been infected with malware and that 96% of all ransomware attacks have been directed at them.
41% of companies have over 1000 files with sensitive data, open to everyone
According to a Varonis report, these companies have unsecured files containing the
following data: credit card information, health records and other personal information. All
employees have unrestricted access to these. Furthermore, the same report shows that
many companies keep “stale data” and “stale users” on their servers. Stale data is not used
in daily operations, while stale users are inactive users, belonging many times to employees
who have left the company.