Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report highlights a concerning trend of evolving cyber threats, with over 30,000 real-world security incidents analyzed, including a record 10,000 confirmed data breaches across 94 countries. This increase underscores the expanding threat landscape that organizations face globally.
According to Rob Le Busque, Verizon Business’s regional Vice President, the top three methods used by cyber criminals for data breaches are unauthorized web application credential use, email phishing and exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications. These vectors demonstrate a sophisticated and diverse range of attacks impacting organizations of all sizes and sectors.
The report paints a complex picture of cybercrime’s global impact, emphasizing its indiscriminate reach across varied industries and geographies. Despite efforts to mitigate risks, cybercriminals persist in deploying both novel and established methods to exploit vulnerabilities.
The findings underscore the urgent need for organizations to prioritize cybersecurity measures, particularly in safeguarding web applications and training employees against phishing attacks. As cyber threats continue to evolve, businesses must remain vigilant and adaptive to protect sensitive data and systems from breaches.
In this article, you will learn about five key takeaways from the Verizon data breach investigation report.
Table of Contents
5 Key Takeaways from Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report 2024
1. Zero Day Vulnerabilities Leading To Data Breaches
2. Human Error Is Leading Cause of Data Breaches
3. Ransomware and Extortion Attacks Continues To Rise
4. Unintended Errors are Causing Cybersecurity Incidents
5. Education and Awareness is Minimizing The Phishing Threat
5 Key Takeaways From Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report 2024
Here are five key takeaways from the Verizon data breach investigation report 2024.
- Zero Day Vulnerabilities Leading To Data Breaches
Verizon’s latest report highlights a staggering 180% surge in attacks exploiting vulnerabilities, fueled by incidents like the widespread exploitation of the MOVEit zero-day vulnerability. These attacks, predominantly driven by ransomware and extortion-based actors, primarily targeted web applications.
The report underscores a critical vulnerability management gap within organizations, with threat actors often exploiting vulnerabilities within days while organizations take an average of 55 days to patch half of these vulnerabilities. The findings emphasize the urgency for organizations to reassess their cybersecurity posture and vulnerability management strategies.
Despite some having robust programs in place, complacency poses a significant risk. Experts urge organizations to revisit their plans, strategies and funding allocations for patching, recognizing the heightened risk and importance of proactive vulnerability management in today’s threat landscape.
- Human Error Is Leading Cause of Data Breaches
Did you know that more than two third of data breaches occur due to human error? Yes, you read that right. According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigation report 2024, 68% of data breaches contained non malicious human elements. This clearly shows that humans are the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain.
Businesses can minimize these human errors by educating their employees and providing them the right cybersecurity training. This will go a long way in reducing the number of human errors.
- Ransomware and Extortion Attacks Continues To Rise
Ransomware and extortion based attacks accounted for one third of total data breaches. According to Verizon’s data breach investigation report, 32% of all data breaches are caused by ransomware and extortion based attacks. Ransomware is also one of the most common threats to organziations with an astonishingly high prevalence rate of 92% across all industries. To make things even worse, the cost of ransomware attacks is also increasing rapidly.
Ransomware attackers are demanding a higher ransom which makes it a lucrative threat vector for them. They can earn more money for the same effort. Sadly, that is not good news for businesses who are ignoring the ransomware threat. Attackers have also changed their strategy.
They are now launching fewer and more sophisticated ransomware targeting critical and IT infrastructure such as 10 GBPS Dedicated Servers, which is a huge departure from their old strategy in which they launch more ransomware attacks targeting businesses. They are now using stealthy techniques that enable them to fly under the radar without getting detected.
As a result, businesses are finding it tough to detect ransomware attacks due to its sophisticated nature. Even when they do, it is too late and the damage has already been done. The more time a ransomware attacker gets, the more damage it can do. That is why businesses must adopt a proactive approach instead of a reactive one when dealing with ransomware threats.
- Unintended Errors are Causing Cybersecurity Incidents
The incidence of breaches attributed to errors, such as misconfigurations and inadvertent data exposures, has noticeably increased, comprising nearly one-third of all incidents in 2023. These errors encompass a range of issues from misconfigured settings to employees clicking on malicious links or inadvertently sharing sensitive information outside the organization.
The surge in reported incidents may partly be due to new mandatory breach notification requirements, prompting organizations to disclose these incidents more frequently. This suggests that such errors have been prevalent in breaches for some time, possibly more so than previously acknowledged in media or typical incident response reporting.
This trend underscores an urgent need for organizations to strengthen their security governance procedures. They need to buy a VPS server and migrate their sensitive data on it. By implementing robust policies and frameworks around data governance, organizations can reduce the occurrence of avoidable errors that lead to breaches.
Tightening security measures and improving adherence to governance protocols present an opportunity for organizations to enhance their overall cybersecurity posture and minimize lapses that could compromise sensitive data. Addressing these vulnerabilities is crucial for organizations to mitigate risks and safeguard against potentially costly breaches caused by preventable errors.
- Education and Awareness is Minimizing The Phishing Threat
Another common attack vector that has long been targeting businesses is phishing attacks. Thanks to the organization’s investment in employee training and education, more and more employees can now detect phishing emails and fewer of them are falling prey to attackers’ traps. This is good news but there is still a lot of room for improvement as most employees who fall victim to these phishing attacks do so in 60 seconds.
This leaves little time for organziations to react and protect their organization. Even though fewer employees are clicking on malicious links sent to them via email, those who do click, do so instantly. According to 2023 data collected and analyzed by Verizon data breach investigation report, 20% of employees were able to identify phishing threats in simulation environments. 11% clicked on the malicious link in a simulated arrangement. If you zoom out and look at the past year data, you will see a positive trend in the number of users being able to detect phishing threats, which is a positive sign for businesses.
What did you learn from the Verizon data breach investigation report? Share it with us in the comments section below.