10 Things You Need to Know About Data Theft
Cybercriminals Increasingly Target Credit Card Data
Payment card data continues to top the list of types of data compromised, with 55% of data thefts in 2013 involving payment card data.
Cybercriminals Steal Confidential Information More Often
Cybercriminals go after sensitive and confidential information, like financial credentials, internal communications, personally identifiable information and various types of customer records. This type of theft increased 33% in 2013.
Targeted Assets: Commerce and Data Systems
E-commerce made up 54% of targeted assets, point-of-sale breaches accounted for 33%, and data centers for 10%.
Who Suffers the Most?
Most victims (59%) live in the U.S., more than four times the next victim location, which is the United Kingdom (14%). Australia ranks third at 11%.
Leading Compromised Industries
35% of attacks struck retailers. Food and beverage ranks second at 18%. Hospitality came in third at 11%.
Malware Hosts
The top three malware countries where cybercriminals are hosted: U.S.: 42%, Russia: 13%, Germany: 9%
Spam Still a Favorite
Cybercriminals love spam. 70% of inbound e-mail included spam, a 5% drop since 2012. 59% of malicious spam included malicious attachments and 41% included malicious links.
Favorite E-Mail Subject Lines
The top three subject lines of spam e-mails are: “Some Important Information Is Missing.” “Bank Statement. Please Read.” “Important—Payment Overdue.”
Cybercriminals Rely on Java Applets
Java applets are cybercriminals’ delivery method of choice, with 78% of detected exploits taking advantage of Java vulnerabilities.
Cybercriminals Exploit Third-Party Plug-Ins
85% of cybercriminal activity detected in 2013 exploited third-party plug-ins, including Java, Adobe Flash and Acrobat Reader.
