Businesses spend $2,300 to deal with a malware attack

To remedy a malware attack businesses need to shell out, on average, $2,300 per attack. This is according to a new report by Arbor Networks.

The report, produced in partnership with research organization 451 Research, says spear phishing attacks are still most successful of all the different methods of entry.

However, they won’t stick with spear phishing if it doesn’t work. They will use whatever is cheap, free or available as long as it works.

Financial and identity frauds are losing popularity, the report says, as cybercriminals move towards more profitable and less complex strategies.

"We have produced a very compelling paper with valuable insights and specific recommendations to enhance your security posture. Attackers are more likely to think, act and use the tools of an IT administrator than those of a Hollywood movie hacker," says Scott Crawford, director for the Information Security Channel at 451 Research.

"They don’t rely on malware, custom or commodity. They don’t attack from the outside in. They work from the inside out. They use common IT tools to access and escalate through internal systems. As an industry, we need to think more like the adversary with less emphasis on tools and more on attacker strategy."

The goal of the report is to educate businesses on what their adversaries look like and how they behave. Arbor Networks and 451 Research have interviewed several white-hats experienced in dealing with the black-hat side of things from different roles, including incident responders, malware researchers, penetration testers and security veterans.

You can find the full report on this link.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Future plc Publication. All rights reserved.

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