HP report reveals nearly half of cyber-attacks are already known about

In its 2015 report published by the enterprise security division of HP, nearly 50% of all cyber-attacks are down to system vulnerabilities that have been known about for up to four years.

The data breaches that were analysed to collate the findings for the report during 2014 found that as much as 44 percent of the attacks were caused by problems that were flagged up anywhere between two and four years, but were not fixed.

Protecting business data

The report states that "Businesses should employ a comprehensive patching strategy to ensure systems are up to date with the latest security protections to reduce the likelihood of these attacks succeeding.

"While newer exploits may have garnered more attention in the press, attacks from years gone by still pose a significant threat to enterprise security.”

General manager and senior vice president and for enterprise security products at HP, Art Gilliland, said;

 "Our researchers saw that despite new technologies and fresh investments from both adversaries and defenders alike, the security realm is still encumbered by the same problems - even in some cases by the very same bugs - that the industry has been battling for years.

"Well-known attacks were still distressingly effective, and misconfiguration of core technologies continued to plague systems that should have been far more stable and secure than they in fact proved to be.

"We are, in other words, still in the middle of old problems and known issues even as the pace of the security world quickens around us.

"We can't lose sight of defending against these known vulnerabilities by entrusting security to the next silver bullet technology; rather, organizations must employ fundamental security tactics to address known vulnerabilities and in turn, eliminate significant amounts of risk.”

Be vigilant with company security protocols

The conclusion was that businesses and organisations must be vigilant when it comes to following basic security protocols, and be aware of the risks that could expose them by devices like smartphones and wearables.

The report stated:

“As physical devices become connected through the Internet of Things (IoT), the diverse nature of these technologies gives rise to concerns regarding security, and privacy in particular.

"To help protect against new avenues of attack, enterprises should understand and know how to mitigate the risk being introduced to a network prior to the adoption of new technologies.”

Does your business take enough notice of cyber-security? If not, perhaps now is the time to consider taking action – that is where ACE Computer Support can help provide advice and guidance to help stop any data breaches that could put your systems in jeopardy.

Call us today for an initial consultation on 01902 375304 or contact us by clicking here.