I recently attended a presentation by Verizon where they discussed the 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report. Anybody that has anything to do with computer security should download the report. It’s free and you don’t have to be a Verizon customer to get it. In fact, you don’t even have to register to download the report.
2012 is the fifth year that Verizon has compiled this report, so they have data to show some interesting security trends. There is a lot of good information and some surprises as well. A couple things I found surprising:
- No data has been breached as a result of cloud technology.
- Passwords are a relatively ineffective deterrent to currently used exploits.
- Any form of encryption, no matter how weak, deters hackers.
The report is about 75 pages long. As I read through it I will share some of my findings and expand on the ones listed above. If you find something interesting in the report, share it in the comments below.