Tag: cybercrime rise
US Data Compromises Double Year-on-Year
It's official – the US is losing the battle against cybercrime. The first quarter of this year has seen 841 publicly reported data compromises - a 90 percent increase compared to 442 compromises in Q1 2023. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the picture may be even grimmer than these bald statistics suggest. Year-on-year, the number of cyberattack-related data breach notices without information about the root cause of the attack leapt from 166 in Q1 2023 to 439 in Q1 2024. This represents a staggering rise of 265 percent in unsolved data breaches.
Budget shortfalls power cybercrime surge
Over half of all companies worldwide quote inadequate cybersecurity budgets as a key factor underpinning a dramatic rise in global cybercrime in the first three quarters of 2023. According to a survey of almost 2,000 cybersecurity practitioners worldwide undertaken by the Ponemon Institute and commissioned by cybersecurity firm Barracuda: “There are a number of common factors that contribute to organizations’ exposable security postures. These include significant IT security budget shortfalls, a general lack of consistent enterprise-wide security policies and programs, ineffective (or no) incident response plans, and an inability to protect against automated security attacks criminals create using generative AI technology.” Fifty-five percent of respondents quoted inadequate IT security budgets as the chief cause of their growing vulnerability to cyber-attacks. A further 42 percent highlighted inadequate enterprise-wide security policies and programs. A lack of inventory of third parties with access to sensitive and confidential data adversely impacted 38 percent. Another key factor is a lack of support from senior leadership, with 25 percent of respondents saying that management teams fail to regard cyberattacks as a significant risk.