90% of Russian entrepreneurs faced external cyber threats, says ESET

The antivirus company ESET conducted a comprehensive study on the state of information security in Russian companies, interviewing dozens of IT Directors and business owners.
According to the study, 90% of Russian companies faced external cyber threats and about 50% faced internal ones. Among external cyber threats spam (65%), malware (47%) and encryptors (35%) are leading.

The distribution of malicious software is closely linked to the activity of spammers and phishers who seek to lull the employee’s vigilance and force him to follow a malicious link or download a dangerous file. At the same time, many respondents noted that often viruses, Trojans and other malware got on devices because of the human factor – employees used unverified external drives or installed unwanted software.

In addition, 7% of respondents experienced the loss of corporate smartphones, tablets or laptops with confidential information by employees.
It is worth noting that specialists from the CIS often face internal problems of information security. At the same time, Russian companies often had to repel more serious threats: DDoS attacks, phishing, encryptors.

Every fifth Russian company suffered from accidental data leaks due to a lack of knowledge of the security rules for employees working with confidential information. At the same time, Russian IT managers are concerned about the protection of personal data of employees (60%), which is also due to the tightening of the relevant norms of Russian law.

90% of respondents reported that they use anti-virus solutions, 45% control the work with external drives, 26% implement financial protection systems and 28% fight against DDoS attacks. In addition, managers are increasingly turning to third-party companies for audits to ensure information security (15%). At the moment, according to experts, outsourcing security is one of the trends in cybersecurity.

At the end of 2019, 5% of Russian companies are not satisfied with the state of information security and would like to increase the budget. Moreover, with the growth of the number of computers, the level of dissatisfaction and the desire to increase the budget for information security are growing.