Verizon Reports Surge In Data Security Breaches

The number of electronic security breaches during the past year exceeded that of the previous four years combined, according to a new report from Verizon Communications.

The financial sector experienced the largest rise in cyber attacks, doubling its share of attacks to 30 percent as hackers sought out consumers’ personal data, Verizon said.

However, the retail sector was still the one most targeted by hackers, accounting for one-third of the total number of cyber attacks, according to the report.

Citing cases managed by its business security unit, Verizon said the financial sector held 93 percent of the 285 million individual records, such as account personal identification numbers, that were compromised in 2008.

Wade Baker, a research executive for Verizon Business Security Solutions, said hackers who sell these records on the black market are increasingly focusing on larger institutions, which are often more difficult to hack but contain vast numbers of records.

"In 2008 the criminals have really done something different," Baker told Reuters.

"Instead of hitting small one-off shops for small hauls of data we saw them targeting large companies with a great deal of data."

For example hackers are increasingly turning to firms such as credit card companies, banks and others that process transactions from a variety of merchants as these attacks yield more data than individual merchants would, he added.

Although sophisticated attacks represented just 17 percent of data security break-ins last year, Verizon said these "relatively few cases" were responsible for 95 percent of the total breaches it investigated.

While many may think larger firms would have more resources to protect their data, Verizon said that sometimes a company’s size can worsen the room for error.

"The bigger the company the more machines they have to manage. The bigger they are, the chances are they’ve forgotten to do something. It’s much easier to find holes rather than plug holes," said Baker, adding that companies need processes to ensure their security policies are actually being followed.

Nearly 90 percent of the electronic security breaches could have been prevented without complex or costly controls, Verizon said, "if security basics had been followed." 

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