Just ahead of the holiday season, U.S. companies and critical infrastructure providers are once again bracing for the potential risk of cyberattack, as threat groups look to exploit distracted IT security teams for maximum leverage.
The vast majority of organizations — nearly 9 in 10 — hit by ransomware over the past 12 months were targeted at night or over a weekend period, when IT security staffing was low, a November report from Semperis shows.
Nearly two-thirds of organizations said they were targeted by ransomware after a major corporate event when employees could be distracted, such as a restructuring or major layoff announcement, an initial public offering or a corporate merger.
The report, conducted in partnership with Censuswide, is based on a survey of more than 900 IT security professionals in the U.S., U.K., France and Germany.
Security operations teams are already highly stressed, with CISOs under tremendous pressure to manage compliance demands from federal and state governments. Companies are also cutting back on hiring to the threat of recession and inflation concerns.
Security teams have…
