Beware! Cyber alert for C-level executives this year

HYDERABAD: Cyberattacks on corporates and public entities is rapidly moving north. If the findings of the Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) for 2019 by Verizon is anything to go by, then this year C-level executives (CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, COOs etc) are 12 times more likely to be the target of social incidents (cybercrimes which may have not lead to any loss) and nine times more likely to face social breaches (where there is loss).
“A successful attack on senior executives can reap large dividends due to their — often unchallenged — approval authority and privileged access into critical systems. Typically, time-starved and under pressure to deliver, senior executives quickly review and click on emails prior to moving on to the next (or have assistants managing email on their behalf), making suspicious emails more likely to get through,” the report said.
While top honchos are on the radar of cyber criminals, attacks on human resource personnel have decreased by six times from last year. The 12th DBIR is based on data from 41,686 security incidents and 2,013 data breaches provided by 73 data sources, both public and private entities, spanning 86 countries.
“Ransomware attacks are still going strong and account for nearly 24% of incidents where malware was used. Ransomware has become so commonplace that it is less frequently mentioned in the specialised media unless there is a high-profile target in the mix. However, it is still a serious threat to all industries,” the report said.
With companies adopting cloud-based solutions to store data, there has been an increase in hacking of cloud-based email servers, it said. Besides, web-based email accounts being compromised using stolen credentials is rising and seen in 60% of attacks involving hacking of a web application.
Chip and pin tech helps curb frauds
In the financial sector, the chip and pin payment technology has started delivering security dividends as the number of physical terminal compromises in card-related breaches is decreasing compared to web application compromises. Healthcare, however, continues to be the only industry to show a greater number of insider attacks as compared to external attacks (60% versus 42% respectively).