Cyber attacks are now the #1 cause of data loss

2022 marks the first year cyber attacks overtake human error as the top cause of data loss.

1 year ago Posted in

New research by Databarracks shows that 38% of organisations reported cyber attack and internal breaches as a cause of data loss in 2022.

The findings come from the annual Data Health Check, a survey of 400 IT decision makers. This year’s survey focused on themes of Ransomware, Cyber, Backup, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity.

Barnaby Mote, Managing Director of Databarracks commented: “For many of us, these results should come as no surprise. Data loss caused by cyber attacks has been increasing year on year since we began the Data Health Check in 2008. In a relatively short space of time, we’ve watched cyber attacks go from minor threat, to where we are today as the leading cause of data loss for organisations.”

Mote continued: “The seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated. The other causes of data loss have not gone away. IT teams are still dealing with similar numbers of incidents caused by human error and hardware or software failure. The growth is in addition to these causes. It is a significant burden because recovery from cyber-related data loss is typically far more difficult and time consuming.

“Of those surveyed, over half have experienced a cyber attack. We also found, perhaps unsurprisingly, ransomware is the most common form of cyber attack this year.”

Mote provided suggestions on how organisations can protect themselves.

“There are two key areas organisations can focus on to protect themselves against cyber related data loss. Firstly, improve your defences to prevent the attack occurring and secondly, improve your ability to respond and recover if you do suffer data loss.

“Your first line of defence is your staff. It’s essential that employees are trained and practice good cyber hygiene. We found that almost a quarter of organisations have not carried out cyber security training in the last year.

“Review your Disaster Recovery plans to make sure they are up to date and equipped to deal with the task at hand. Cyber incidents are very different from traditional causes of data loss. Look specifically at the frequency of your backups and the number of versions of data you keep to minimise both downtime and data loss.

“Growth in cyber-related data loss will only continue so it is critical organisations are able to respond effectively.”

WatchGuard acquires CyGlass

Once integrated into the WatchGuard Unified Security Platform architecture, the CyGlass technology will deliver AI- and ML-based detection of network anomalies and accelerate Open XDR capabilities.

Accelerating the convergence of AI and security

Intel presents a software-defined, silicon-accelerated approach built on a foundation of openness, choice, trust and security.

BlueVoyant partners with Qualys

BlueVoyant and Qualys join forces to offer an integrated managed service for Qualys VMDR and TotalCloud, delivering an enhanced vulnerability identification, cloud security, and compliance solution.

Acronis introduces Advanced Automation

New cloud-centric platform, purpose-built for small and midsize MSPs, improves customer billing, reduces complexity, and maximizes revenues.

CloudBees introduces Cloud Native DevSecOps Platform

CloudBees has introduced a new cloud native DevSecOps platform that places platform engineers and developer experience front and center.

Ransomware is a top three threat

To mitigate ransomware attacks, IT professionals must consider both business-related and infrastructure data equally.

SentinelOne launches Singularity RemoteOps Forensics

New solution combines forensics evidence with real-time telemetry to deliver unified insights into security incidents analysts need to perform investigation and response activities with efficiency and speed.

Orange Cyberdefense launches automation service

Orange Cyberdefense has launched a new security orchestration and automated response ‘as a service’ offering that provides cost-effective automation to streamline security, IT and business operations. By automating response-based actions through to the end user and driving a faster mean time to respond (MTTR) to security threats, AutoXR addresses the need for increased efficiencies and reduced costs, reducing the burden on staff who have limited time to execute tasks.