Data Loss through Cyber Attacks Declines, but Breaches Increase: Verizon

Data loss through cyber attacks declined significantly in 2010. However, the total number of breaches was higher than ever, according to the Verizon (News - Alert) 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report.

The report suggests that businesses and consumers must remain vigilant in implementing and maintaining security practices.

The number of compromised records dropped from 144 million in 2009 to 4 million in 2010. However, the industry faced approximately 760 data breaches in 2010, the largest caseload to date.

“Through our Data Breach Investigations Report series, Verizon continues to provide the industry with a first-hand look at cybercrime around the globe,” said Peter Tippett (News - Alert), Verizon's vice president of security and industry solutions, in a statement.

“This year, we witnessed highly automated and prolific external attacks, low and slow attacks, intricate internal fraud rings, countrywide device-tampering schemes, cunning social engineering plots and more. And yet, at the end of day, we found once again that the vast majority of breaches can be avoided without extremely difficult, expensive security measures,” Tippett added.

There is a significant decline in large-scale breaches. The number of small attacks has increased.  Small to medium-sized businesses represent prime attack targets for many hackers. Criminals are opting to play it safe in light of recent arrests and prosecutions of high-profile hackers.

According to the Verizon survey, ninety-two percent of data breaches were caused by external sources. Partner-related attacks continued to decline, and business partners accounted for less than 1 percent of breaches.

“Americans over the past several years have seen the significant impacts data breaches are having on our nation's financial infrastructure.  Today, cyber criminals are operating in nearly every civilized nation in the world, exposing Americans' personal information, either stored or transmitted, to substantial risk,” said A.T. Smith, assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service. 

Physical attacks are also increasing. Physical attacks include manipulating common credit-card devices such as ATMs, gas pumps and point-of-sale terminals. Organized crime groups are responsible for most of these card-skimming schemes.

Verizon recently announced the launch of the next generation of its all-fiber-optic FiOS (News - Alert) TV service. The company added more than 25 upgrades to FiOS TV's advanced Interactive Media Guide after collecting customer feedback from its product development labs, field trials and social media forums.