Bots infect 63% of companies

The Check Point 2013 Security Report shows that 63% of organisations were infected with bots, and more than half were infected with new malware at least once a day, says Check Point's Amnon Bar-Lev.

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Based on research of nearly 900 companies, and 120 000 hours of traffic, across 62 countries in various industries, the Check Point 2013 Security Report illustrated what is hiding on corporate networks, and the major security risks companies are exposed to on a daily basis.

A resounding outcome was that, in order to define a security blueprint to protect organisations from the constant stream of evolving security threats, far clearer visibility into today's threats is needed.

Speaking at the Check Point Security Tour, held in Johannesburg today, Amnon Bar-Lev, the company's president, said that, among other findings, the research showed that 63% of organisations were infected with bots, and more than half were infected with new malware at least once a day.

The unprecedented levels of cyber crime seen in 2012 clearly illustrated that many of the most serious threats stayed hidden from network administrators. "These threats come from ever-changing techniques deployed by cyber crooks, in addition to risky online activities by employees, which unintentionally create vulnerabilities on the corporate network," he said.

He says in order to develop a strong security blueprint, businesses must first be aware, and fully cognisant, of the activities occurring on their networks.

According to the report, cyber crime will continue to evolve this year. From crime ware to hacktivism and cyber attacks, threats will impact organisations of all sizes.

The report illustrates all the top threats, including the most infamous botnets, top malware location by country, top vendor vulnerabilities and exposures, and SQL injection events by source country, and suchlike.

Bar-Lev says the surge in Web 2.0 applications has given cyber crooks previously unseen ways of penetrating corporate networks. He said 91% of organisations used applications with potential security risks.

The report highlights these risky Web applications, including frequency and usage of anonymisers, peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, file storage and file sharing applications, and social networks - all ways of potentially accessing a backdoor into enterprise networks. Alarmingly, the report showed that P2P applications were detected in 61% of organisations.

Another significant finding was that corporate information is more accessible and transferable than ever before, leading to a greater risk of data loss or leakage.

Bar-Lev said over half (54%) of businesses surveyed had at least one potential data loss incident. He said there are different types of sensitive data leaked and lost, including PCI-related information as well as HIPAA-protected health information.

"Our research uncovered many alarming vulnerabilities and security threats on networks that most organisations were not aware of," said Bar-Lev.

Check Point helps companies of all sizes implement security blueprints and architecture that aligns with business needs. The company's portfolio of products offers multi-layered security to combat all types of threats identified in the report.

Check Point solutions include Anti-Bot, which detects bot-infected machines and prevents bot damage; Anti Virus, to protect against malware downloads; and recently unveiled Threat Emulation, which protects against new and undiscovered malware.