New AT&T Research Finds 75% of Email Traffic is Suspicious

 And 50% of Businesses Have Outdated Cybersecurity Protections

New AT&T* research shows many businesses are not effectively protecting their data. As more organizations adopt cloud architectures, traditional security protections aren’t enough.

The latest AT&T Cybersecurity Insights report, “The CEO’s Guide to Data Security,” details how this is affecting data security, and what businesses can do to help protect their data.

“Every business wants new technologies that help save time, cut costs or provide better services,” said Steve McGaw, chief marketing officer, AT&T Business Solutions. “This report helps them take advantage of these technologies without compromising the security of their business.”

It is critical that businesses continue to evolve their security practices with the latest technologies and embrace newer cybersecurity solutions that can help protect information at rest or in motion, and within the cloud.

New cyberthreats emerge every day. Yet, 50% of businesses surveyed have not changed their cybersecurity protections in over 3 years. Seemingly simple threats like email spam or phishing have become a major threat to businesses.

AT&T blocks 75% of email traffic transmitted across its network every day due to suspicious content. That equates to 400 million spam messages each day.

These numbers are only growing. In the first half of 2016, AT&T saw a 400% increase in attackers searching for vulnerabilities in IoT devices. This type of increased activity in 2016 resulted in a series of major IoT-centric attacks on two Internet service providers.

The latest AT&T report covers these threats and provides insight on steps today’s businesses can take to help protect themselves. Consider these tactics:

• Update Identity and Access Management Systems. The latest technologies can restrict device use to only approved users. Software-defined networking perimeters can also help prevent malicious actors from accessing proprietary information.
• Implement Threat Analytics. Threat analytics systems scan overall network activity to flag behavioral changes like a spike in data traffic or a new user on the system to help identify new emerging threats.
• Move to Virtualized Security Functions. Software-defined networking (SDN) means that security can be deployed and updated in near real-time over software systems. SDN helps protect information stored in the cloud or on premise.
• Create an Incident Response Team. A plan and team are crucial to handling a possible security issue. Quick response is essential to mitigating and reducing the impact a cyberattack could have on your business.

To learn more about what today’s businesses are facing and how to stay prepared, check out “The CEO’s Guide to Data Security.”

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.