is to be forewarned about malicious cyber attacks. From the Washington Business Journal.
"Let there be Light"
Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
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Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
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FedBiz Talk
Malicious cyber attacks increase 81 percent in 2011, report finds
Washington Business Journal by Jill R. Aitoro, Senior Staff Reporter
Date: Monday, April 30, 2012, 11:57am EDT
- Jill R. Aitoro
- Senior Staff Reporter - Washington Business Journal
- Email | Twitter
In the wake of "Cyber Week" in the House of Representatives, security vendor Symantec Corp. released its annual Internet Security Threat Report that paints a pretty frightening reality: an 81 percent increase in malicious attacks that are no longer limited to large organizations.
The report, released Monday, found that the number of malicious attacks continued to climb even as the number of vulnerabilities decreased. Symantec blocked more than 5.5 billion malicious attacks in 2011, an increase of 81 percent over the previous year. The number of unique malware types increased to 403 million, and the number of Web attacks blocked per day jumped 36 percent.
On a brighter note, spam levels fell, and new vulnerabilities discovered decreased by 20 percent. The report points to social media as a primary mechanism for launching attacks.
More troubling for the business community was a rise in targeted attacks, which as the name implies go after a specific individual or organization. The number of daily targeted attacks increased from 77 per day to 82 per day by the end of 2011. While traditionally focused on public sector and government, 2011 brought far more attacks on private businesses – including the smaller ones.
More than 50 percent of such attacks target organizations with fewer than 2,500 employees, according to the report, and almost 18 percent target companies with fewer than 250 employees. More than half — 58 percent — of attacks target non-execs, including employees in human resources, public relations and sales. They often serve as a direct link into the company, are easy for attackers to identify online and are used to getting proactive inquiries and attachments from unknown sources.
The report recommended not only standard antivirus software but "reputation-based protection" that can handle previously unknown threats. The report also highlighted data loss prevention solutions and network-based protection such as firewalls.
Beyond products, organizations should implement good security policies, ensuring that computer applications remain patched and confidential data is encrypted, particularly on mobile devices.
The report was released just as a privacy debate among members of Congress begins to heat up after a bill passed in the House to allow the government to receive cyber threat information from businesses. The House will also vote on bills this week to amend the Federal Information Security Management Act that dictates how agencies protect their networks and systems; to reauthorize computer research and development, and to better coordinate federal research into cybersecurity.
Jill R. Aitoro covers federal contracting.
