What is Stolen Information Worth to Cyber Criminals?

What is Stolen Information Worth to Cyber Criminals

In a recent study, businesses suffered almost 43 million known security incidents in 2014 which is an increase of 48%. Ever wonder what is stolen information worth to cyber criminals?

Here are some interesting numbers to consider:

  • In 2014, almost 43 million security incidents which is an increase of 48% compared to 2013. That equals 117,000 cyber-attacks daily.
  • Since 2013, there has been a growth of 62% in respect DDoS attacks across this carrier’s network.
  • 75% of businesses do not involve their boards of directors or management in cybersecurity incidents.
  • 51% of organizations are not re-evaluating their information security as a result of high-visibility data breaches.
  • 87% of U.S. business executives are worried that cyber threats could have an impact on their company’s growth prospects.
  • Over 10 major U.S. banks were attacked in 2014 and over 76 million consumer records were stolen.
  • There have been cyberattacks against retailers including Target, Neiman Marcus, TJ Maxx resulting in bad headlines because personal financial information of millions of customers has been compromised by hackers.

How do cyber criminals threaten your business?

Cybercriminals are always on the hunt for soft and lucrative targets to attack. They operate around the clock and do not take vacation days or sick days. Your company network is in constant threat of hacker attack. In recent years, they have moved their focus from individuals to businesses as it is more lucrative.

Healthcare industry, the street value of stolen medical information is $50 per record and social security numbers are worth $1. There were 38 healthcare company breaches in the sector during 2014 but only 43% of the incidents identified in 2014.

Financial services showed that 39% of the financial companies surveyed being hit by cybercrime compared to 17% in other industries.

What are some industry best practices to protect your business?

  • You need to use a strategic action plan centered on prevention, detection, and response.
  • You need to perform a data inventory, data valuation, and data risk analysis.
  • You need a complete inventory of the data including location and cost of loss of information.
  • You need to install two-factor authentication as it creates an additional step of ID verification plus adds an extra barrier between cyber criminals and company data.
  • You need to analyze both inbound and outbound traffic and verify what is legitimate versus illegitimate traffic.
  • You need to have your IT support team or IT consultant use industry encryption practices.

 

What is your data worth to cyber criminals?

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All information used in this article comeWhat Every CEO Needs to Know About Cybersecurity

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