Three in ten domestic companies are unable to reliably detect IT security incidents, although the risk of becoming a victim of a criminal act on the internet is increasing. In addition, 22 percent overestimate their precautions against hacking attacks and feel a false sense of security, according to an analysis by credit protection association KSV1870. For example, one in four companies does not have an adequate cyber security concept for calamities.
According to crime statistics, cybercrime increased by almost 30 percent last year. 46,000 cases were reported. According to the KSV, approximately 15,500 of these cases involved so-called cybercrime. These include hacking, data corruption/counterfeiting and misuse of data processing.
“The number of IT security incidents is constantly increasing, but many companies still underestimate the risk. Small and medium-sized companies in particular need to better protect themselves,” explains Alexander Mitter, director of KSV subsidiary Nimbusec. “Companies often recognize their IT security as a problem area, but at the same time make too few human and financial resources available to mitigate the risk. SMEs in particular are often affected,” says Mitter.
The easiest way to get the problem under control is to reduce the hardware and software solutions used and standardize the processes. “More and more systems are being connected to each other, which leads to increasing complexity. The result is an exacerbation of the problem,” explains Mitter.
250,000 company websites analysed
The KSV subsidiary researched 250,000 websites of Austrian companies. The result: about 200 websites were hacked, posing a major security risk. “It sounds innocent at first, but when you consider that these websites are visited tens of thousands of times a day, malware can spread over a large area.” says Mitter. These security risks include both fraudulent content and program codes that install computer viruses or so-called cryptominers that distribute cryptocurrencies at the expense of website visitors (electricity).
In the course of the investigation, the affected companies have been approached by the Austrian IT security task force CERT to draw attention to existing problems. But 90 percent of infected websites were still infected one month after the scan, posing a significant security risk.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
