Verizon report says human error leading factor in data breaches

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Verizon data breach report overview: 

• Who: In its 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon says that human error was the leading factor in data breaches from last year. 
• Why: The investigative report used data from 87 cybersecurity vendors, consultants and researchers to gain a better understanding of how the cyberattacks occurred.
• Where: Consumers and businesses nationwide have been affected by data breaches.

Verizon concluded that human error is the main factor in data breaches occurring as the result of a cyberattack. 

The determination was included in the company’s 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, which used data from 87 cybersecurity vendors, consultants and researchers, IT World Canada reports. 

Verizon’s data breach investigations report studied nearly 24,000 incidents from last year, including more than 5,000 confirmed data breaches. 

“From very well publicized critical infrastructure attacks to massive supply chain breaches, the financially motivated criminals and nefarious nation-state actors have rarely, if ever, come out swinging the way they did over the last 12 months,” Verizon says in its report. 

The company found that among the breaches, 82% of them “involved the Human Element, including Social Attacks, Errors and Misuse.” 

It determined mistakes caused by human error to be responsible for 14% percent of the data breaches, according to the report. 

Verizon also determined that 62% of incidents in the system intrusion pattern “involved threat actors compromising partners.” 

Organized crime, meanwhile, contributed to around four out of every five data breaches with Verizon finding external actors are roughly four times more likely than an insider to be the perpetrator of the breach of an organization. 

“The Financial sector continues to be victimized by financially motivated organized crime, often via the actions of Social (Phishing), Hacking (Use of stolen credentials) and Malware (Ransomware),” Verizon says. 

Verizon report finds data breach attacks often target supply chains 

Verizon also found that data breach attacks most commonly targeted an organization’s supply chain with those types of cyberattacks making up 61% of all data breach incidents from last year. 

System intrusion, meanwhile, was the primary cause of more than 1,600 data breaches last year that involved confirmed data disclosure in the United States and Canada, according to the Verizon report. 

Other causes include basic web application attacks and social engineering, IT World Canada reports. 

To best prevent data breaches, Verizon says chief information security officers (CISOs) should focus on data protection, account management, access control management, security awareness,and skills training. 

Further, CISOs should place emphasis on securing configuration of both enterprise assets and software, according to the Verizon report. 

Just earlier this month, Kaiser Permanente announced that a data breach exposed the private and protected health information of more than 69,000 of the health care providers’ patients. 

Have you had your personal information exposed as the result of a data breach? Let us know in the comments! 

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