855 data breach incidents occurred in 2011. 174 million records were compromised. Just reading those statistics makes me feel like those guys from Bitcoinia, whose accounts were recently attacked again to the tune of a $90,000 loss.
Along those lines, we present an infographic from BackgroundCheck.org that tells the story of Verizon’s “2012 Data Breach Investigation Report” which explains how breaches occur and provides steps for protection.
The first alarming piece of information is that the vast majority of attacks were not that difficult to execute and 97% of them were avoidable with simple controls. Also, the victims were generally not the ones who first discovered the breaches. But, even when discovered by third parties, these breaches weren’t noticed for weeks.
Although we’ll be posting about security compliance in the near future, towards the end of the graphic you can check the “Where should mitigation efforts be focused?” section for Verizon’s recommended actions on how to protect your organization.