A third of organisations encounter multiple cyber-attacks every week

Computing research shows that more than 30 per cent of UK firms confirm multiple security incidents targeting them every week

Thirty-three percent of businesses and organisations in the UK experience multiple proven cyber-attacks each week. The figure was revealed in recent research, carried out by Computing in collaboration with Carbon Black.

The report found that a further 27.8 percent face several such attacks each month.

On the other hand, almost one in five participants claimed to encounter proven attacks by malicious actors just once a year or less. However, the concern here is that attacks are likely happening but not being identified.

The danger is that business networks are being compromised and criminal organisations allowed to act undetected - establishing themselves for further attacks. As the research explains:

"As attacks become increasingly sophisticated, cyber criminals aim to sidestep defences, gain an undetected foothold in a victim's network and then live off the land, moving laterally within the organisation and maintaining persistence in preparation for launching attacks at will in the future."

The findings indicate a pressing need for a more proactive approach to threat detection - so-called ‘threat hunting'. Threat hunting is the active pursuit and detection of the abnormal activity on the network that indicates a potential compromise. Rather than a reactive activity carried out in response to a security alert, threat hunting is a continuous process that should become part of the security team's DNA.

Threat hunters can make decisions quickly and wisely, using human judgement supported by machine intelligence to proactively defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber threat actors.

To learn more, read the full report: Outsmarting the Smart: Entering the Age of Threat Hunting.