Exposing The Economics Behind Hacking

A new survey by the Ponemon Institute provides insight into topics like the average earnings of a cyber-attacker, the amount of time attacks typically take, and how to prevent successful data breaches by increasing the cost of conducting them.

Key findings

Cyber-attackers are opportunistic and aim for the easiest targets first:

  • 72 percent of survey respondents said they won't waste time on an attack that will not quickly yield high-value information.
  • A majority of the survey's respondents (73 percent) stated attackers hunt for easy, "cheap" targets.

Time is the enemy of cyber-attackers:

  • An increase of approximately 2 days (40 hours) in the time required to conduct successful cyberattacks can eliminate as much as 60 percent of all attacks.
  • On average, a technically proficient attacker will quit an attack and move on to another target after spending approximately a week (209 hours) without success.    

The "big payday" is a myth:

  • The average adversary earns less than $30,000 annually from their malicious activities, which is 1/4 of a cybersecurity professional's average yearly wage.

A strong security posture increases the time to execute an attack:

  • It takes double the amount of time (147 hours) for a technically proficient cyber-attacker to plan and execute an attack against an organization with an "excellent" IT security infrastructure versus 70 hours for "typical" security.
  • 72 percent of respondents believe attackers will stop their efforts when an organization presents a strong defense.

"As computing costs have declined, so too have the costs for cyber adversaries to infiltrate an organization, contributing to the growing volume of threats and data breaches. Understanding the costs, motivations, payouts, and finding ways to flip the cost scenario will be instrumental in reducing the number of breaches we read about almost daily and restoring trust in our digital age," said Davis Hake, director of cybersecurity strategy at Palo Alto Networks.

Recommendations

Make yourself a "hard target" - Adopting a security posture with a breach prevention-first mindset, instead of a detection and incident response approach, can slow down cyber-attackers enough for them to abandon the attack in favor of an easier target.

Invest in next-generation capabilities - Legacy point products present little deterrence to attackers. The use of next-generation security capabilities that automate preventive action and don't rely on signatures alone or static defenses are the best defense against today's advanced cyberthreats.

Turn your network visibility into actionable intelligence - A prevention-focused security posture relies on natively integrated technologies like next-generation firewalls, network intelligence, and threat information sharing. This provides defenders with a clearer picture of what is happening inside their network, versus a confusing collection of uncorrelated point products.

Net-Security: http://bit.ly/1UK7ySj

« Cyber Crime Forensics
Data Analytics Is Driving IT »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

Jooble

Jooble

Jooble is a job search aggregator operating in 71 countries worldwide. We simplify the job search process by displaying active job ads from major job boards and career sites across the internet.

Resecurity

Resecurity

Resecurity is a cybersecurity company that delivers a unified platform for endpoint protection, risk management, and cyber threat intelligence.

Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

TAG's mission is to educate, promote, influence and unite Georgia's technology community to stimulate and enhance Georgia's tech-based economy.

CERT.hr

CERT.hr

CERT.hr is the national authority competent for prevention and protection from computer threats to public information systems in the Republic of Croatia.

Qualitest Group

Qualitest Group

Qualitest is the world’s largest pure play Quality Assurance and software testing company.

GSMA - IoT Security Guidelines

GSMA - IoT Security Guidelines

GSMA has created a set of security guidelines for the benefit of service providers who are looking to develop new IoT products and services.

First Response

First Response

First Response is a Cyber Incident Response and Digital Forensic Investigation company.

HYAS Infosec

HYAS Infosec

HYAS is a highly skilled information security firm developing the next generation of information security technology.

VigiTrust

VigiTrust

VigiTrust is a security firm specializing in cloud based eLearning programs, security compliance portals and providing security assessments.

FinlayJames

FinlayJames

FinlayJames supports cyber security companies to meet the increasing demand and pressure on them by finding top talent within the industry for their sales, marketing and technical teams.

GMV

GMV

GMV is a technological business group offering solutions, services and products in diverse sectors including Intelligent Transportation Systems, Cybersecurity, Telecoms and IT.

Dell Technologies Capital

Dell Technologies Capital

At Dell Technologies Capital we lead investment in disruptive, early-stage startups in enterprise and cloud infrastructure.

ActZero

ActZero

ActZero’s security platform leverages proprietary AI-based systems and full-stack visibility to detect, analyze, contain, and disrupt threats.

GitProtect.io

GitProtect.io

​GitProtect is a fully manageable, professional GitHub and Bitbucket backup and recovery software that protects repositories and metadata from any event of failure.

3B Data Security

3B Data Security

3B Data Security offer a range of Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Incident Response and Data Breach Management Services.

Apex Systems

Apex Systems

Apex Systems is a world-class technology services business that incorporates industry insights and experience to deliver solutions that fulfill our clients’ digital visions.

Platview Technologies

Platview Technologies

Platview Technologies is an innovative and agile cybersecurity company with the goal of safe-guarding businesses with our world-class, industry-leading services and technology solutions.

Attaxion

Attaxion

Attaxion is an External Attack Surface Management (EASM) Platform. We offer attack surface management solutions with #1 asset coverage and laser-focused, actionable intelligence.