Mobs Behind Data Breach Spike

According to the report, 285 million corporate electronic records were breached last year, more than the number of the previous four years combined.

Nearly one-quarter of all external breaches registered last year originated in Eastern Europe, the report noted.

“We do have a great deal of evidence that malicious activity from Eastern Europe is the work of organized crime,” the report said.

In one of the more spectacular examples, one network thought to be based in Russia stole data from Atlanta-based payment processor RBS World Pay last year, and used cloned debit cards to withdraw $9 million from 130 ATMs in 49 cities around the world. The same group has apparently infiltrated more than 300 companies.

Hacking, Malware Biggest Entry Points

The trend that Verizon noted was increasingly sophisticated attacks aimed at stealing PIN numbers with which cybercriminals can drain victims’ bank accounts. Though Verizon considered only 17 percent of the breaches to be “highly sophisticated,” these types of attacks were responsible for 95 percent of all records breached. And financial services records made up 93 percent of all records breached. Hacking and malware were the biggest points of entry.

Verizon said that most breaches happen because businesses don’t have basic controls in place, or because those controls may not be used consistently throughout the business. The group recommended protecting systems with firewalls and changing passwords after systems are installed. They also recommended that organizations review accounts for signs of abuse, because many organizations have difficulties in catching the breaches quickly enough.

“Two hundred eight-five million records breached in a single year is a rather loud wake up call to an industry dedicated to protecting information. We can’t afford to hit snooze and sleep in,” the report said. “Our task is not getting any easier; the sum total of information in the world grows continually and permeates everything we do and everywhere we go.”

--Beth Kampschror