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According to the “2009 Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations Report”, more records were breached in 2008 than in the previous four years combined. The investigation found that in 90 confirmed breaches some 285 million records were compromised.
More disturbing, the financial services sector accounted for 93% of all records compromised and a staggering 90% of those breaches involved groups identified by law enforcement as engaged in organized crime.
Here are some key findings from the report:
Most data breaches investigated were caused by external sources.
Most breaches resulted from a combination of events rather than a single action.
In 69 percent of cases, the breach was discovered by third parties.
Nearly all records compromised in 2008 were from online assets.
Roughly 20 percent of 2008 cases involved more than one breach.
Additionally, the report indicates that attacks against financial services have increased in 2008 to 30%. Out of the 285 million records compromised, the financial sector was targeted in 9 out of 10 cases. Criminal elements have shown an increased interest in stealing personal identification numbers, debit and credit card information which allows them to withdraw cash directly from the consumers account.
The report suggests enterprises take these proactive steps to prevent data breaches:
Change Default Credentials.
Avoid Shared Credentials.
Review User Accounts.
Employ Application Testing and Code Review.
Patch Comprehensively.
Assure HR Uses Effective Termination Procedures.
Enable Application Logs and Monitor.
Define "Suspicious" and "Anomalous" (then look for whatever "it" is).
The report can be downloaded on the Verizon business website. Enterprise level administrators have to be increasingly vigiliant in reviewing server logs and following proper IT policies to protect them against attempted data breaches.
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