Thales, an electronics group specializing in aerospace, defense, security and land transportation has released the 2023 Global Data Threats Report, the annual report on cyber threats. The research was conducted on approximately 3000 IT professionals from public and private organizations in 18 different countries, including Italy. From report data emerge that ransomware attacks globally they are on the rise, as are i risks concerning i sensitive data on the cloud.
Ransomware attacks are growing but the severity is decreasing
Nearly half (47%) of the professionals surveyed believe that security threats are increasing. It is mainly reported theincrease globally of ransomware attacks (48%) which in the past 12 months involved 22% of companies. Overall, nearly a third (37%) globally (46% in Italy) experienced a data breach in the last year.
Cala, compared to 2022, however, the severity of ransomware attacks. 35% of respondents report that ransomware has had a significant impact, up from 44% in 2022. Spending is increasing (61% report increasing) to acquire tools to prevent ransomware attacks compared to 57% in 2022. There are still no action plans to counter the phenomenon with only the 49% of companies who reports having a formal plan to deal with the threat while 67% report data loss caused by these attacks.
Cloud data the main goal, human error the main cause
The survey highlights that main objective of cyber attacks are i cloud data. Cloud-based storage is the main target for over a quarter (about 28%) of respondents worldwide (46% in Italy), followed by end-user devices (44%). This growth towards cloud data is due to the growth of work increasingly oriented towards online storage. In fact, around 70% say that over 40% of data stored in the cloud is classified as sensitive.
The main cause of cloud data breach, however, is made up of simple human errors. The fault many times for lies with misconfiguration or oversights that can accidentally lead to system breaches. 55% of those who have experienced a data breach in the last 12 months believe that the root cause is incorrect configuration, followed by the non-use of MFA (20%) or the authentication method that requires a user to provide at least two verification factors in order to access a certain "online space". To mitigate these risks, the report notes that the most effective tool is that of identity and access management (IAM).
Data sovereignty remains the most important challenge
La digital sovereignty is the increasingly important issue facing IT professionals responsible for data privacy and security. 83% express concern for data sovereignty and 55% (63% in Italy) agree that the data privacy and cloud compliance have become increasingly difficult, possibly due to the requirements for achieving digital sovereignty. Concerns are growing threats coming from quantum computers that attack classic encryption schemes is a concern for organizations. According to Thales' report, Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL) and the future decryption of the network constitute i major security issues of quantum computing. The cpost-quantum retouching (PQC), the discipline to counter these threats, presents, for 62% of organizations, five or more key management systems representing a significant challenge.
"The companies continue to be very concerned about cyber threats, although the findings of our report indicate that good progress is being made in some areas. The report shows that Italian results are mostly comparable with those of the rest of the world, with the exception of two figures: in particular, almost half of the respondents - 46% in Italy - report having suffered a data breach in the last 12 months , against 37% globally and – again 46% in Italy – affirms that cloud storage is the main objective. A circumstance certainly linked to the fact that work today is increasingly "hybrid". The big news that emerged from the 2023 research is also theimportance of digital sovereignty which is becoming crucial for corporate IT managers, who increasingly need to know how data is stored,” he said Sergio Sironi, Commercial Director of Southern Europe for the Cloud Protection & Licensing business line.
