14 DAY TRIAL // As other security vendors highlighted during their end-of-year reports, 2015 was a bad year for security, a conclusion Symantec also reached in its most recent year-in-review report.
Some of the report's highlights include a worrying trend in the way companies treat data breaches, the increased number of zero-days, the increase in Web-based cyber-attacks, ransomware, and spear-phishing attacks.
Companies are starting to hide details about their data breaches
Probably the most controversial finding of this report was the fact that Symantec observed that during 2015, more and more companies started to avoid disclosing the full details of the data breaches they suffered.
With over 429 million records lost or stolen in 2015, the companies that decided not to reveal details about the data breaches grew by 85 percent compared to 2014. This lack of data makes it harder for security firms and independent researchers to get a clear picture of today's cybercrime environment.
Even worse, the number of megabreaches, data breaches where companies lose over 10 million records, also increased to nine incidents, with the biggest one being when a company lost 191 million user records.
Spear-phishing, Web attacks, and ransomware also intensified
But data breaches weren't the only security incidents that caused problems. During 2015, Symantec also observed that there were major security vulnerabilities in more than 75 percent of all popular websites, of which 15 percent had vulnerabilities labeled as critical.
Spear-phishing also increased during the past year, and Symantec says employees received 55 percent more spam and unsolicited email that tried to trick them into revealing corporate credentials or to install malware on their devices.
Ransomware infections also rose by 35 percent, but anyone that's been reading a security blog can reach the same conclusion, 2015 being a year like no other for ransomware operators.
Another interesting tidbit from Symantec's report is the fact that tech support scams were also a very common threat last year, the security vendor detecting and blocking over 100 million such attacks.
If you're looking for more details, Symantec's 81-page 2016 Internet Security Threat Report is available for download.
