Most data breach incidents 'occur via social engineering'

2009-07-31

The majority of data breach incidents happen through social engineering, it has been suggested.

This includes current and former employees as well as vendors who are often part of criminal networks, according to Merchants Information Solutions.

It suggested that cybercriminals are coming up with new ways to carry out their activities meaning that prevention updates are required.

These ID thieves are often ahead of law enforcement by months in terms of new tactics.

Merchants Information Solutions has now introduced the first volunteer business-government board committed to prevent ID thefts by creating and providing the most up-to-date and best prevention practices.

"We decided we could do something significant to help legitimate organisations protect themselves with this remarkable board of very distinguished national and international experts," said Mark Pribish, board chair and vice-president of the ID Theft Practice at Merchants.

The news comes after the release of a report published by Business Insights, named Effective Vendor Strategies for Targeting SMBs: Vendor Positioning and the Future Outlook for the SMB IT Market, which has been added on to Research and Markets' offering.

It revealed that 70 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses rank spam and data breach incidents as their top security concerns.

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