Arctic Wolf Security Operations Report: Corporate Credentials Exposed on Dark Web Up Over 400 Percent

PRESS RELEASE

SUNNYVALE, CA – October 6, 2020 – Arctic Wolf®, the leader in security operations, today announced the release of its 2020 Security Operations Report. Using data collected from the Arctic Wolf® Platform and real-world experiences from the Arctic Wolf Concierge Security® Team, the Arctic Wolf Security Operations report quantifies key security operations data from the thousands of environments protected by Arctic Wolf.

While there has been a year-over-year decrease in publicly disclosed data breaches, the report reveals that the number of corporate credentials with plaintext passwords on the dark web has increased by 429 percent since March. For a typical organization, this means there are now, on average, 17 sets of corporate credentials available on the dark web that could be used by hackers. With access to just one corporate account, attackers can easily execute account takeover (ATO) attacks, which allow them to move laterally within an organization’s corporate network and gain access to sensitive data, intellectual property, competitive information, or funds.

The sharp increase in corporate credential leaks underscores the need for organizations to have dedicated 24x7 monitoring of their network, endpoint, and cloud environments in order to prevent targeted attacks that could happen at any time. Of the high-risk security incidents observed by Arctic Wolf, 35% occur between the hours of 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM, and 14% occur on weekends; times when many in-house security teams are not online.

“The cybersecurity industry has an effectiveness problem. Every year new technologies, vendors, and solutions emerge. Yet, despite this constant innovation, we continue to see breaches in the headlines. The only way to eliminate cybersecurity challenges like ransomware, account takeover attacks, and cloud misconfigurations is by embracing security operations capabilities that fully integrate people, processes, and technology,” said Mark Manglicmot, Vice-President, Security Services, Arctic Wolf. “The Arctic Wolf Security Operations Report is designed to share our security operations insights and recommendations with the industry so that any organization can take the steps they need to reduce their cyber risk and improve their overall security posture.”

The Arctic Wolf Security Operations Report also provides insight into how COVID-19 has increased the number of security operations challenges facing organizations, some of which include:

·       A 64 percent increase in phishing and ransomware attempts – Hackers have created new phishing lures around COVID-19 topics and adapted traditional lures seeking to take advantage of remote workers.

·       Critical vulnerability patch time has increased by 40 days - A combination of higher common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) volumes, more critical CVEs, and the emergence of a remote workforce have significantly slowed the patching programs at many organizations.

·       Unsecured Wi-Fi usage is up by over 240 percent - Remote workforces connecting to open and unsecured Wi-Fi networks outside of their office or home are now facing increased risks of malware exposure, credential theft, and browser session hijacking. 

The complete Arctic Wolf Security Operations Report, which includes additional key findings and recommendations on how organizations can be more effective in their security operations, can be downloaded from www.arcticwolf.com. Arctic Wolf will also be hosting a live webinar examining the insights in more detail on Tuesday, October 27 at 12:00 PM ET.

Additional Resources

·       Join the conversation with Arctic Wolf on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube

·       Visit arcticwolf.com to learn more about our security operations solutions

·       If you’re ready to get started, request a demo or get a quote today

About Arctic Wolf:
Arctic Wolf® is the market leader in security operations. Using the cloud-native Arctic Wolf Platform, we provide security operations as a concierge service. Highly trained Concierge Security® experts work as an extension of an organization’s internal team to provide 24x7 monitoring, detection, and response and ongoing risk management to proactively protect systems and data while continually strengthening their security posture. For more information about Arctic Wolf, visit arcticwolf.com.

Press Contact

Dan Deeth
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