Employee error is one of the main causes of internal IT security incidents leading to leakage of confidential corporate data. This is according to the findings of the Global Corporate IT Security Risks 2013 survey, by B2B International and the IT security firm Kaspersky Lab this year.
Although vulnerabilities in software used by company staff in their daily duties is one of the top reasons behind internal IT security incidents (with 39 per cent of companies reporting this issue), the volume of types of incidents taking place due to staff errors is as high, according to the firms. Four out of five types of internal IT security incidents that took place within companies were closely related to erroneous employee actions.
About 32 per cent of respondents reported leaks that took place as a result of employee mistakes. A slightly lower number of companies — 30 per cent — reported incidents where the employee was at fault over the loss or theft of mobile devices. Some 19 per cent of the companies participating in the survey reported that employees were involved in intentional leaks. 18 per cent reported incidents that were caused by incorrect use of mobile devices (via mobile email clients or text messaging).
At the same time, an average of 7 per cent of respondents reported that employee actions were the cause of leakages of critically confidential information relating to company operations. Most commonly, leakages of critically sensitive data occurred when employees were responsible for the loss or theft of mobile devices with 9 per cent of respondents reporting these types of incidents.
Approach
David Emm, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, said: “These types of incidents can be eliminated – or at least the risk can be minimised – by implementing a set of measures including educating employees about IT threats and developing, putting into place, and overseeing the enforcement of appropriate security policies within the company. Another preventative action to consider is the use of specialised security solutions, such as Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business.”
Meanwhile more offices are in danger from targeted plausible fakes, according to Kaspersky Lab’s
In Q2, the percentage of spam in total email traffic increased by 4.2 per cent from the first quarter of 2013 and came to 70.7 per cent. The percentage of phishing emails in global mail traffic fell by 0.0016 per cent and came to 0.0024 per cent.
Many emails with malicious attachments were addressed to corporate users this past quarter. These emails were disguised as auto-replies, i.e., delivery failure notifications, or notifications of the arrival of an email, fax, or scan. Malicious users expect corporate employees to skim over the details, assume the email is legitimate and open the attachment — releasing a malicious program.
One unusual feature in Q2 was the distribution of eCards with malicious attachments. In the past, these were a common sight at every major holiday, but lately malicious eCard sightings have been few and far between. However, this past quarter, Kaspersky Lab again detected these malicious mailings, this time targeting the prominent American greeting card company Hallmark.
Malicious eCards weren’t the only long-forgotten tactics detected by Kaspersky Lab
The countries which most actively send spam remain the same, although their percentages have changed slightly: China is down by 1.2 per cent, the US is down by 0.9 per cent, and South Korea’s percentage is lower by 3 per cent. Most spam emails are still very small, weighing in at under 1KB. Over the second quarter there were 4.8 per cent more of these small emails, and they made up 73.8 per cent of all spam mails.
The amount of malicious attachments in the second quarter was 1 per cent lower than in the first, coming to 2.3 per cent of all mail traffic. Among the threats spread by email, the most prevalent families are those designed to steal data to access user accounts (usernames and passwords), particularly for online banking services.
The percentage of phishing emails in total mail traffic during the second quarter this year fell by 0.0016 per cent and came to 0.0024 per cent.
There were few changes in the range of organisations targeted by phishing attacks in the second quarter. The number of attacks launched against social networks fell by 3.3 per cent, and the percentage of attacks against financial organisations increased by 1.2 per cent, pushing that category into second place in the ratings.
More often these days, phishers are reluctant to rely solely on the human factor and are less willing to wait for users to enter their own data. Instead, malicious users are now sending out malicious emails seeded with Trojans that steal usernames and passwords, including for online banking accounts.
Malicious attachments aren’t only found in emails masquerading as forms for Facebook and other popular online resources — they can also be found in emails disguised as official bank messages.
Darya Gudkova, Head of Content Analysis & Research, Kaspersky Lab, said: “Recently, spammers have begun sending out emails with malicious attachments designed to look like automatic delivery failure notifications sent out by servers. Another common trick is to make malicious emails look like notifications from well-known online resources, and include links to malicious websites. The large amount of spyware in malicious spam attachments shows a regrettable trend – malicious users are persistently hunting for personal data, usernames and passwords, including those for online banking and payment systems. Kaspersky Lab
To read the full version of Q2 2013 Spam report visit securelist.com
