All about Virtualization and Cloud Security | Recent Articles:

• Email remains the biggest threat to corporate infrastructures
• Cyber-criminals are creating tools that automate the manual aspects of phishing attacks – especially spear phishing campaigns
• By combining automation with programs that scan data from social media networks and company websites, phishers can send detailed, believable spear phishing emails, with content customized to each victim

• 57% of all ransomware attacks tracked by the company in 2020 took place in the US
• Ransom payments in 2020 average roughly $176,000 per victim
• In 2020, ransomware operators focused almost exclusively on organizations staffing tens of thousands of employees

A recent look at the state of ransomware in 2020 reveals that the US has seen more targeted attacks than any other country. In fact, all other countries combined haven’t suffered enough attacks to equal the States.

• Report presents changing perspectives of cybersecurity globally
• Nearly half of organizations plan to extend cognitive and AI capabilities for security to detect and respond to attacks faster
• Researchers note an increase in R&D, with half of worldwide cybersecurity-related patents filed in the last four years focusing on AI and ML

• Remote work and cloud computing contribute to increase in ransomware attacks
• Healthcare industry most vulnerable during pandemic
• 54% of MSPs say phishing is the most successful ransomware attack vector
• One in four MSPs reported ransomware attacks on clients’ SaaS applications

• Tech leaders tend to overestimate the positive experience of remote workers
• Since the beginning of COVID-19, almost a quarter of organizations have seen an uptick in support tickets from remote workers
• 48% of workers confessed they prefer working in the office
• 43% of IT leaders say their biggest concern is remote worker cybersecurity

• It takes 70% longer to fill cybersecurity roles in health systems than other IT jobs
• 75% of CISOs said experienced cybersecurity professionals are unlikely to choose the healthcare industry as a career path because of the hurdles associated with the job
• More than in other industries, healthcare CISOs are ultimately held responsible for a data breach
• 90% of employees who shifted to remote work did not receive updated cybersecurity guidelines or training
• Cybersecurity shortages are forcing a rush to acquire services and outsourcing

• Researchers report year-over-year reduction in the cybersecurity workforce gap
• The ranks of the cybersecurity profession have grown to 3.5 million infosec professionals (700,000 or 25% more than last year’s workforce estimate)
• Staffing in the field still needs to grow by approximately 41% in the US and 89% worldwide, meaning the talent gap remains a concern
• The average annual cybersecurity salary is highest in North America, at $112,000
• Cloud computing security is the most in-demand skillset

• 10 months into the pandemic, secure access and endpoint security remain a top challenge for IT teams in enabling hybrid work environments going forward
• IT employees now spend five to eight hours per day solely on IT security
• Threat Intelligence, Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) technologies can compensate for these new challenges and help organizations face these new threats

• Researchers seek to understand how businesses rate their security posture in these changing times
• Survey enlists 600 IT pros in companies from $100 million to more than $1 billion in annual revenue
• Respondents admit they need to harden unconventional attack vectors in cloud, mobile and social media technologies
• Half of those surveyed believe internal collaboration platforms represent the biggest risk to security

• COVID-19 has significantly altered the types of tasks that fill a typical IT rep’s day
• IT staff spends more time on virtual tasks like team web meetings, remotely accessing employee devices and customer web meetings
• 47% say they now spend five to eight hours per day solely on IT security matters
• Fear of a cloud data security breach has increased significantly in the past two years
• A similar study shows decision makers are trading personnel for cloud security investments

• Researchers find a 114% increase in remote workers coupled with a 59% increase in adoption of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies
• Situation ‘wreaks havoc’ among enterprise IT security teams as volume of threats and security incidents increase dramatically
• Decision makers develop an appetite for cloud security solutions as IT staff and budgets diminish

• Federal agencies across the US have increased deployment of network visibility solutions
• Most IT leaders equate network visibility to a robust cybersecurity posture
• Automated threat detection is an essential feature of a network visibility solution, according to 24% of IT leaders in the federal sector