Nearly seven in 10 (69%) of IT professionals experience phishing attacks at least once a week, with customer data cited most often as the type of data attacked, according to new research by Ipsos Observer.
The State of Network Security survey, sponsored by HP TippingPoint, covered 205 IT professionals across the United States.
Finding show that seven out of 10 attacks generated within the network perimeter stem from a malware-infected host, highlighting the importance of taking a layered approach to security to block suspicious communications at every point on the network—from the perimeter to the core.
“It is likely that most environments have already been breached with systems infected by malware,” said Frank Mong, VP of solutions at HP’s Enterprise Security Products business.
“It’s important that IT professionals understand how attackers are trying to break through the network, and have confidence in their ability to mitigate attacks when every second matters,” said Mong.
The study also found that three out of five attacks stem from malicious communication with the command and control site, and over half are taking advantage of a software vulnerability. Top threats relative to these new attacks are primarily within the data center, mobile and branch networks.
Among the organizations surveyed, China is stated most often as a country of origin for external network attacks, followed by Russia and the United States.