Forcepoint: Annual threat report reveals insider threats, advanced malware

Mumbai: Forcepoint, a global security technologies company, on Wednesday released the Forcepoint 2016 Global Threat Report, detailing some of the latest evolving threats, gathered from more than three billion data points per day in 155 countries around the world.

According to this year’s report, a brand new botnet campaign that Forcepoint is calling ‘Jaku’ that was discovered as a result of a 6-month investigation by Forcepoint’s Special Investigations (SI) team.

Other than that, a new crop of opportunistic ransomware, anti-malware tools and issues caused by the ever-dissolving perimeter that are posing serious challenges to cyber security professionals and the organizations they aim to protect.

Also, inconsistent security controls between cloud providers and businesses are complicating data protection.

Moving on, risks related to emails are also increasing as nine out of ten unwanted emails contain one or more URLs and millions of malicious macros.

“The rapid evolution of the cyber threat environment has consequences that are much broader than just technical, operational, and financial – they can impact every piece of a business,” said Forcepoint Chief Scientist Dr. Richard Ford.

“With this Threat Report, we want to demystify these threats and help enable businesses with tools, recommendations and, quite simply, knowledge, so they can continue to move forward without fear,” he added.

Some of the top findings this year include:

Malicious content in email increased 250% compared to 2014, driven largely by malware and ransomware.

• The United States hosts more phishing websites than all others countries combined
• Ransomware focus is sharpening, targeting countries, economies and industries where a high ransom is more likely to be paid.
• “Insiders” – malicious and accidental – represent the biggest threat to company security and the one for which businesses feel least prepared.
• Advanced evasion techniques are gaining in popularity and are combining multiple evasion methods, such as IP fragmentation and TCP segmentation, to create new ways to bypass access controls, attack watering holes and disguise traffic.

The Forcepoint 2016 Global Threat Report data was collected and evaluated using the Threatseeker Intelligence Cloud, working behind-the-scenes 24x7x365 to provide Forcepoint visibility into the very latest threats.