DALLAS, Aug. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyber threats,
data breaches and high-risk vulnerabilities have continued to
dominate the first half of 2014 as seen in Trend Micro
Incorporated's (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704) second quarter security
roundup report, "Turning the Tables on Cybercrime: Responding to
Evolving Cybercrime Tactics." The severity of these attacks
intensified against financial and banking institutions as well as
retail outlets. Total attacks have exposed more than 10 million
personal records as of July 2014 and
strongly indicate the need for organizations to adopt a more
strategic approach to safeguarding digital information.
These incident attacks in the second quarter affecting
consumer's personal information included theft of data such as
customer names, passwords, email addresses, home addresses, phone
numbers, and dates of birth. These types of personal privacy
breaches have affected organization's sales and earnings while
leaving customers unable to access accounts and dealing with
service disruption. As a result many countries have begun
developing stricter privacy and data collection policies to begin
dealing with this problem.
As of July 15, 2014, more than 400
data breach incidents have been reported, creating the need for
organizations to identify and understand their core data in order
to protect and build an effective defense strategy to keep them
secure. A change in mindset, organizations initially need to
determine which information they regard as "core data" before
devising a plan on how to protect it.
"Organizations must treat information security as a primary
component of a long-term business strategy rather than handling
security issues as tertiary, minor setbacks," said Raimund Genes,
CTO, Trend Micro."Similar to having a business strategy to improve
efficiency, a well-thought-out security strategy should also
improve current protection practices that achieve long-term
benefits. The incidents observed during this quarter further
establish the need for a more comprehensive approach to
security."
Highlights of the report include:
- Critical vulnerabilities created havoc
among information security professionals and the public:
High-risk vulnerabilities affected various components of Internet
browsing and Web services, including server-side libraries, OSs,
mobile apps and browsers.
- Escalation in the severity
& volume of
attacks: The severity of attacks
against organizations highlighted the importance of incident
response planning and organization-wide security awareness.
- Cybercriminals counter online banking and mobile
platform developments: Deployment of
mobile ransomware and two-factor authentication-breaking malware
has emerged in response to technological developments in the online
banking and mobile platforms.
- Digital Life and Internet of Everything
(IOE) improved way of life with emerging vulnerabilities: The
2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil
was one of the most popular sporting events in recent history. As
such, users faced various threats related to the event—one of the
most widely used social engineering hooks this quarter.
- Global law enforcement partnerships
lead to arrests: By sharing research findings with law enforcement
agencies, financial loss prevention from cybercrime has proven
effective.
"The reported attacks in the second quarter reveal that the wide
spectrum of cyber threats can have a disastrous impact globally,"
said JD Sherry, vice president of technology and solutions, Trend
Micro. "Implementing a strategic incident response plan by forging
collaborations, both internally and externally, will provide
agencies and industries the resources to respond and protect
against current threats to information security."
For the complete report, please visit:
http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/reports/rpt-turning-the-tables-on-cyber-attacks.pdf.
A blog post regarding the report can be viewed here:
http://blog.trendmicro.com/turning-the-tables-on-cybercrime/.
About Trend Micro
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global
leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for
exchanging digital information. Built on 25 years of experience,
our solutions for consumers, businesses and governments provide
layered data security to protect information on mobile devices,
endpoints, gateways, servers and the cloud. Trend Micro enables the
smart protection of information, with innovative security
technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an
evolving ecosystem. All of our solutions are powered by cloud-based
global threat intelligence, the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection
Network™ infrastructure, and are supported by more than 1,200
threat experts around the globe. For more information, visit
TrendMicro.com.
SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated