Cisco Cyber-Security Report Finds Server Threats Increased in 2016

Cisco’s 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report reveals some significant trends, including a dramatic rise in spam volume as well as an increase in server vulnerabilities.

The types of common malware seen by Cisco shifted in 2016 from being largely Trojan droppers, to increasingly focus on web based and browser vulnerabilities

Adware has grown over the past year with 75 percent of organizations reporting they have had some form of adware infection. Cisco defines adware as software that downloads or displays advertising through redirections, pop-ups and ad injections to produce revenue for its creators.

While spam has been challenge for almost as long as email has existed, in recent years, volume had been declining. That changed in 2016 with spam accounting for approximately 65 percent of total email volume that Cisco monitors with its platforms.

Attackers are increasingly targeting servers, with 34 percent more server vulnerabilities reported in 2016. In contrast, both network and client vulnerabilities declined, year-over-year.

When asked about the biggest obstacles to security, 35 percent of respondents cited budget constraints, down from the 39 percent in the 2015 survey.

Security attacks can have a real financial impact on victimized organizations, with 29 percent of Cisco’s survey respondents indicated that they lost revenue as a result of an attack.

According to Cisco’s report, Microsoft had the most critical vulnerabilities advisories across major vendors.

Time to Detection is Improving

Among the metrics that Cisco tracks across its own organization is how much time it takes to detect threats. The media Time to Detection (TTD) various by month, though the overall trend is improving.