If you are worried that the connected technologies being adding to everything from cars to heavy trucks might be vulnerable to hacking, you’re not alone. For a recent survey of 139 chief information security officer (CISO) groups from 11 countries around the world found that such “hacking” is but one of growing worries regarding cybersecurity in the near future.
In the State of Cybersecurity Report 2017 compiled by consulting firm
Wipro Limited, there’s been an “alarming” increase in the number of electronic records stolen across the globe; a 53.6% spike from 2015 to 2016, according to the company’s survey.
On top of that, 56% of breaches reported included the theft of user credentials or passwords, implying that further damage could be perpetrated using the stolen data.
The study found that a majority of the security products were themselves vulnerable to exploitation and CISOs will be required to keep track of vulnerabilities in the security products themselves, Wipro found.
Interestingly, the emergence of new Internet of Things (IoT) “surfaces” like connected cameras, cars, health and industrial automation devices is proving to be a great launch pad for the “hacking for hire” industry, the firm noted.
The emerging IoT devices come with a low memory and processing footprint and usually accommodate very little security capabilities including patching. Such devices, once “online” with an IP [internet protocol] address, are easy prey for sophisticated hacking syndicates.
As a result, those syndicates can develop custom malware to take control of IoT devices en masse and use them as a launch pad for cyber-attacks, Wipro said.
The report also noted that the responsibility for governance of data privacy is still highly centralized, lying with either the CIO, CISO or CPO for 71% of organizations, with the management of privileged access to data ranked as the highest control amongst data security needs.
