Daily Management Review

The Already Surging Cyber Attacks Are Set To Rise Even Further, Says A Study


09/20/2017




The Already Surging Cyber Attacks Are Set To Rise Even Further, Says A Study
Even as the number of cyber breaches reported by companies looks set to rise, according to the latest findings by digital security provider Gemalto, almost 2 billion data records around the world were lost or stolen by cyberattacks in the first half of 2017.
 
The share prices of affected firms is also being harmed by the impact of security breaches.
 
"Two-thirds of firms breached had their share price negatively impacted. Out of the 65 companies evaluated the breach cost shareholders over $52.40 billion," said Jason Hart, vice president and chief technology officer for data protection at Gemalto, in a press release.
 
According to Gemalto's latest breach level index published Wednesday, in the first six months of 2017, there were 918 data breaches which compromised 1.9 billion data records. Compared to the same period in 2016., there was a 164 percent rise in the number of lost, stolen or compromised records.
 
While 22 of the largest data breaches involved more than one million compromised records, of these 918 breaches, 500 breaches had an unknown number of compromised records.
 
Companies reveals data breaches as they feel more pressure to be transparent and this is in part likely responsible for the increase in reported incidents. Firms would be further pushed to disclose hacks and security breaches by new regulations that are set to come into force in the coming months and years and include the likes of the U.K. data protection bill, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and Australia's Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act.
 
"We can expect that number (of compromised records) to grow significantly, especially as government regulations in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere enact laws to protect the privacy and data of their constituents by associating a monetary value to improperly securing data," said Hart.
 
"Security is no longer a reactive measure but an expectation from companies and consumers."
 
There have been significant cybersecurity breaches in 2017. More than 200,000 victims in 150 countries were affected by a ransomware virus called WannaCry in May. In addition to 100,000 Canadian consumers being affected in a cyber attack, information on 143 million Americans was compromised this year, revealed credit rating agency Equifax earlier this month.
 
"We have become accustomed to data breaches, but the Equifax breach announced on September 8 is significant. This breach affects personal consumer data which people have no choice but to use: their social security numbers, a number which will permanently be associated with an individual," said Carl Leonard, principal security analyst at Forcepoint, in a comment earlier this month.
 
"Consumer trust in organisations is eroded by data breaches of this magnitude. People should also keep a close eye on activity on bank accounts and credit cards, and consider identity theft management services."
 
Meanwhile, cybersecurity is an issue that is creating increasing concerns for the C-suite. according to 23.1 percent of 39 CFOs surveyed, cyber attacks are now the number one external risk factor facing business.
 
(Source:www.cnbc.com)