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E-commerce, retailers, top cyberattack targets

New cybersecurity trends have emerged over the past year as criminals continue to broaden their scope of attacks. A new report by Trustwave has found that for the first time, the retail industry made up 45 percent of data breach investigations in 2012.

The report's findings signify a shift in cybercriminals' focus from mostly financial institutions to a more diversified target portfolio.

Perhaps not surprising, e-commerce sites were found to be the number one targeted asset accounting for 48 percent of all data breaches investigated, a 15 percent increase from the previous year. One reason for the growth in attacks is the value being placed on the aggregate of potentially vulnerable consumer and personal information by thieves.

Enterprise seem to agree. In a Deloitte Tech Trends Poll of 1,749 business professionals, 49 percent of respondents reported that consumer and personal information is at significant risk. Businesses are also continuing to invest heavily in increased cybersecurity, as more than one in four of respondents surveyed report their organizations were the victims of at least one cyberattack in the past year. At the same time, computer security experts continue working hard to stay a step ahead with the development of increasingly sophisticated encryption technologies.

“Nearly every industry, country and type of data was involved in a breach of some kind with cybersecurity threats,” said Trustwave's Abby Ross, adding that the report findings "indicate that cyberattacks are increasing as quickly as businesses can implement measures against them.”

It remains true that no technology is beyond hacking, although networks and applications running up to date security tools remain one of the best ways to stay protected from malware. Visit Thawte today to get equipped with an SSL certificate.

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