Computer Threats and Risks

1. Identifying
IT Security Threats

2. CIOs:
Security
is High
Priority
Four of five companies
place a higher priority
on security than they
did as recently as two
years ago, according to
CompTIA.

3. Security Threats On the Rise
• Cyber attacks are up
100%since 2010.
• Cyber attacks can be costly.
The average time to resolve a
cyber attack is 24 days at an
average cost of $591,780, or
nearly $25,000 per day.
• The most costly cybercrimes are
caused by malicious code, denial
of service, stolen or hijacked
devices, and malevolent insiders.
Source: Ponemon Institute, October 2012

4. Threat 1: Data Loss & Leakage
• Unintentional distribution
of sensitive data:
 financial
 employee
 customer data
 intellectual property
• Due to:
 loss or theft of laptops or
mobile phones.
 electronic transmissions, such
as unencrypted emails, IM,
webmail and file transfer
tools

5. Threat 2: Denial of Service Attacks
• DoS attacks flood a network with
more traffic than it can handle,
consuming bandwidth or server
resources.
• Distributed DOS attacks use
multiple systems to launch the
offensive, making them difficult
to shut down.
• DDOS attacks are growing in size
– to more than 50GBps in 2012 ‒
and last more than 30 hours,
according to data from Prolexic.

6. Threat 3: Malware
• Malicious software (aka malware)
is unwanted software installed
without consent.
• Examples include:
 viruses
 worms
 Trojan horses
 spyware
 botnets

7. Threat 4: Phishing/Social Engineering
• Cyber criminals use phishing and
“social engineering” schemes to
trick people into sharing personal
information, such as:
 account information
 credit card data
 social security numbers
 passwords
• Phishing and social engineering
are done typically with links to
fill-in forms from:
 e-mails
 Websites
 social media

8. Threat 5: Human Error/Malevolence
• More than 50%of security
problems are due to employees
or IT staff inadvertently:
 failing to follow procedure
 being careless
 lacking expertise
• Insiders or former insiders, such
as disgruntled or malicious
employees or contractors can be
dangerous attackers because they
know the organization’s:
 security codes and measures
 computers and applications
 actions that will cause the
most damage Source: CompTIA's "10th Annual Information Security
Trends" study, November 2012