Flood of Threat Data Overwhelming Security Operations Center Managers

Flood of Threat Data Overwhelming Security Operations Center Managers

Intel Security’s McAfee Labs Threat Report for December 2016 finds that 93 percent of security managers are overwhelmed by security alerts.

Security Pros Say They Are Overwhelmed by Threat Alerts

An Intel Security study of 400 security professionals, discussed in the December 2016 McAfee Labs Threats Report, found that 93 percent reported that they were not able to triage all relevant threat alerts.

Firewall Logs are a Primary Source of Threat Detection

While there are multiple approaches to finding potential threats, 55 percent of respondents identified Firewall logs as the top data source used to detect advanced threats.

Ransomware Continues to Grow

The total number of ransomware samples known to McAfee Labs grew by 18 percent in the third quarter. Ransomware incidents grew steadily in 2016 as attackers continue to be successful.

New Mobile Malware Levels Off

McAfee Labs identified just over two million new mobile malware threats in third quarter even though the pace of new mobile malware discovery slowed.

MacOS Malware Jumps by 637 Percent

While new mobile malware grew only marginally in the third quarter, McAfee Labs reported that new malware on Apple’s macOS grew by 637 percent. The sharp increase in macOS malware sample was attributed to the Bundlore adware family which was very active in the quarter.

Growth of All Types of New Malware Slows

While ransomware continued to grow, McAfee Labs reported that in terms of all new malware samples, there was a 21 percent decline in the third quarter.

Wapomi Remains Top Botnet

The Wapomi botnet was once again the most prevalent botnet in the world according to McAfee Labs, followed by ransomware botnet CryptXXX.