May 23, 2016
Cybercrime in Australia is on the rise, with 63% of Australian organizations experiencing a cybersecurity incident or breach in the past year, with more than half of these breaches listed as “serious.” The survey also indicates that 71% of organizations have experienced mobile security incidents such as a lost device, data policy violation or staff disabling security features. These figures confirm that the growth in mobility and the cloud have contributed to a growing attack surface that cybercriminals exploit, with the Insider Threat one of the greatest risks on the endpoint.
CompTIA’s report, International Trends in Cyber Security, looked at cyber security incidents across many countries. While Australia did not top the list (India, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico all fared worse), the percentage of Australian organizations struggling with data security remains high:
Moheb Moses, CompTIA director Channel Dynamics and ANZ community director, says, “Due to the evolving nature of IT, most organisations have had to change the way their company approaches security. In Australia, as in many other countries, the greatest change has been in IT operations, especially as firms move to cloud or implement new mobility strategies.”
Half of organizations in the US report at least one data breach in the past 12 months. So, while data breaches in the US may get the bulk of the limelight, this new data indicates that organizations in Australia are suffering a higher rate of security incidents. IBM’s report also adds the particular risks that Australian healthcare organizations face with the uptake in use of online health records. CompTIA’s report shows that, in Australia, there is a higher proportion of human error / insider threats responsible for cyber security incidents. Such areas of human error include: a failure to understand new threats, end-user failure in following policies and procedures, carelessness, intentionally disabling security features, lack of expertise with websites / applications, and IT failing to follow policies and procedures.
Our own report earlier this year, IT Confidential: The State of Security Confidence, also revealed that those tasked with protecting data were often responsible for putting it at risk, proving that the Insider Threat has many faces within an organization. With the rise in mobility, it’s now more important than ever to regain control and viability into the devices that are off-network, to enforce data security policies, spot data at risk or remediate security incidents before they turn into a data breach. We provide this with Absolute DDS.
To learn more about the specific compliance requirements Australian organizations face, download our whitepaper, Complying with Australian Privacy Law: Protecting Privacy with Endpoint Security.
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