7 Common Reasons Companies Get Hacked

Many breaches stem from the same root causes. What are the most common security problems leaving companies vulnerable?

Kelly Sheridan, Former Senior Editor, Dark Reading

January 18, 2017

8 Slides

Businesses suffering from security breaches span all sizes and industries, but they often make the same mistakes. Many cyberattacks in 2016 could be attributed to similar root causes.

To be fair, security pros continue to face the same challenges, explains Diana Kelley, global executive security advisor at IBM. The most common causes behind major breaches can be grouped into two categories, she says: humans and hygiene.

The human factor relates to employees' behavior and how they interact with enterprise systems. Cyber hygiene refers to how businesses keep their systems patched and updated.

Each of these broader terms encompasses several bad practices, mistakes, and overlooked steps that contributed to security breaches in 2016. What were some of the most common reasons companies got hacked last year? Read on to find out.

About the Author

Kelly Sheridan

Former Senior Editor, Dark Reading

Kelly Sheridan was formerly a Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focused on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial services. Sheridan earned her BA in English at Villanova University. You can follow her on Twitter @kellymsheridan.

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