HP Study Shows Lack of Internal Defenses in Companies

Eweek.com reported on 27th August, 2014 quoting a Network Security survey of IT firm Hewlett-Packard (HP) as "many organizations are not taking internal threats as seriously as they should."

The study shows that 69% of IT professionals deal with phishing attacks at least once a week with financial and customer data being main targets. The survey also discovers that 70% of attacks are originating from inside the network which comes from a machine infected with malware.

Eweek.com published news on 27th August, 2014 quoting Jennifer Ellard, Director of Network Security Product Marketing of HP Enterprise Security Products, as saying "It means that in many cases corporate networks are already infected with malware."

Betanews.com reported on 27th August, 2014 quoting Frank Mong, Vice President, Solutions, Enterprise Security Products of HP, as saying "Organizations are more and more challenged to protect their networks from sophisticated attacks and in fact most environments might have already been breached by infecting systems with malware."

Mong added that it is important for IT professionals to understand how attackers are trying to break the network and should have the capability to diminish these attacks particularly when every second that is passing that matters.

67% of respondents contacted by the company during their study stressed that attackers mostly sought after their data during a breach of network. 63% of respondents noted that hackers gather company's financial information and try to attack them.

SCMagazine.com published news on 27th August, 2014 quoting Ellard as saying that a covered security approach including training regarding security awareness was required to prevent malware contamination (and data of theft) owing to phishing."

She explained that Sandboxing technologies can be employed in combining with security alertness training as businesses "require an environment where malware can explode and you can examine it" prior to it affecting the staff.

Other key findings reveal that China is the most common country of origin for external attacks followed by the US and Russia.

Global research practice Ipsos Observer conducted the study last month (referring to July 2014) and encompasses the answers of 205 IT professionals across the United States.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/4/2014