Trend Micro’s Annual Security Roundup Sizes up 2014 from the Sony Hack to the Rise of the Cyber Underground, Proliferation ...

Complacency is no longer an option in 2015 for enterprise cybersecurity

Prolific cyberattacks against Sony capped off one of the biggest years on record for cyber security. Approximately 100 terabytes of data were compromised and up to $100 million in damages were inflicted during this headline-grabbing incident as the Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704) annual security roundup report, “The High Cost of Complacency,” analyzes this and other notable activity throughout 2014. The year’s happenings reinforced that cybercriminals are relentless with ever-increasing levels of sophistication and tenacity.

“All in all, it’s a combination of identifying what’s most important, deploying the right technologies, and educating users,” said Raimund Genes, CTO, Trend Micro. “It is everybody’s job – not just those of IT professionals – to ensure that the company’s core data stays safe.”

Additional findings include confirmation of Trend Micro’s late 2013 prediction that one sizable data breach would occur every month — further solidifying the need for organizations to protect their networks and implement intrusion detection.

“The past year was unprecedented in terms of the size and scope of cyber attacks as evidenced by the Sony situation,” said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer, Trend Micro. “Unfortunately, this will most likely be a ‘sneak peek’ of what is to come.”

Report highlights include:

• No threat is too small. It did not take a sophisticated piece of malware to cripple a target. Attackers are using a simple wiper to breach company’s defenses with devastating effects.
• PoS RAM scrapers came close to becoming a mainstream threat in 2014, as several high-profile targets lost millions of customer data to attackers month after month.

• Software and platforms not thought to be at risk proved that no application was invulnerable in 2014.
• Online and mobile banking faced bigger security challenges and are proving that two-factor authentication was no longer enough to secure sensitive transactions.
• Ransomware became a bigger and more sophisticated threat across regions and segments. And unlike older variants no longer just issue empty threats but actually encrypt files.

For the complete report, please visit: http://www.trendmicro.com/security-roundup.

A blog post regarding the report can be viewed here: http://blog.trendmicro.com/2014-security-roundup-report-the-high-cost-of-complacency/.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Built on 26 years of experience, our solutions for consumers, businesses and governments provide layered data security to protect information on mobile devices, endpoints, gateways, servers and the cloud. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. All of our solutions are powered by cloud-based global threat intelligence, the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure, and are supported by more than 1,200 threat experts around the globe. For more information, visit TrendMicro.com.

Trend Micro IncorporatedThomas Moore, [e-mail]