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Verizon's 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report Provides Latest Findings in Information Security
December 20, 2012

Verizon's 2012 Data Breach Investigations report highlights the current landscape in data breach incidents. Among their findings:

  • In general, external breaches were conducted with hacking (81 percent) and malware (69 percent). 
  • Servers (94 percent) are most vulnerable to attack. 
  • In 95 percent of cases, hackers are targeting financial data and personal identification information (names, Social Security numbers, and addresses). 
  • Sixty-five percent of attacks were considered "low difficulty" and did not require sophisticated techniques to successfully breach the system. 
  • Seven percent of all data breaches occurred in the health care industry, particularly in the small-to-medium business category, and this number is expected to rise. 
  • Cybercriminals targeting health care organizations were more interested in Point of Sale systems and financial data, not electronic health records. 
  • In 84 percent of cases, it took multiple weeks or longer to discover that a breach had occurred. 
  • Most breaches (97 percent) were avoidable through simple or intermediate controls. 
  • Preventing a breach from happening is less expensive than the cost of dealing with a traditional breach.

Read the full report: Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report 
    
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