Verizon Releases Snapshots of Cybercrime

Oct 24 - Verizon has released a series of industry-by-industry snapshots of cybercrime, based on the “Verizon 2012 and 2011 Data Breach Investigations Reports.”  The snapshots, aimed at helping organizations better understand the anatomy of a data breach and how to best provide protection, offer an in-depth view of the financial services, health care, retail and hospitality sectors.

In addition, a fifth snapshot examines intellectual property theft, which has become increasingly difficult to protect against across a range of industries.   

“Understanding what happens when a data breach occurs is critical to proactive prevention,” said Wade Baker, Verizon managing principal, RISK team. “Through our more targeted analysis, we are hoping to provide answers to businesses around the globe that want to protect not only their data but their reputation.”

Key Findings in the financial and insurance industries:

• The financial services industry faces some unique challenges with regard to information protection. The industry’s status as a high-value target means it attracts significantly more directed and tenacious criminal attention.
• Overall breaches in this sector were primarily about the money, whether targeting it directly (by accessing internal accounts and applications) or indirectly (through downstream fraud). Many of the attacks are targeted against ATMs, Web applications and employees.
• Areas for improved security include better protection of ATMs, careful monitoring of login credentials, secure application development, and training and awareness among employees.

Verizon 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report

The DBIR is now in its fifth year of publication, and this year’s edition, released in March, analyzed 855 data breaches involving more than 174 million compromised records – the second-highest data loss that the Verizon RISK (Research Investigations Solutions Knowledge) team has seen since it began collecting data in 2004. Verizon was joined by five organizations that contributed data to this year’s report: the United States Secret Service, the Dutch National High Tech Crime Unit, the Australian Federal Police, the Irish Reporting & Information Security Service and the Police Central e-Crime Unit of the London Metropolitan Police.  

For the first time in 2012, the report was issued in multiple languages in addition to English: French, Italian, Japanese, German, Portuguese and Spanish. In addition, the 2012 report also is produced as an iBook.

Verizon, through its Terremark subsidiary, helps organizations protect their core asset: data. The company does this through a robust suite of security services - including governance, risk and compliance solutions; identity and access management solutions; investigative response; data protection and threat management services; and vulnerability management services - delivered in the cloud or on-premises. 

For more information on Verizon Security Services, click here.

About Verizon Communications Inc.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with nearly 96 million retail customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500. A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 184,500. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.