1,451 incidents occurred in 2021, 49.2% of which were caused by email and internet access Survey of security measures taken by companies and organizations nationwide
— 62.5% of incidents were ransomware or Emotet infections Email security to block entrances and internet access control to block exits are key to preventing information theft and leakage from malware. —

Information security solution provider Digital Arts Inc. (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan; CEO: Toshio Dogu; hereinafter referred to as “Digital Arts”; Code 2326) conducted a survey targeting 1,000 managers and information security personnel in companies and organizations nationwide to determine the actual information security measures they undertake.

While the rapid spread switch to working from home in 2020 increased the importance of security measures both internally and externally, the number of cyber attacks that take advantage of the pandemic continue to increase, and security incidents continues to occur.

49.2% of the 1,451 incidents in 2021 were the result of email or internet access

For this report, we conducted a survey on the security measures of Japanese companies and the number of incidents they experienced in 2021. According to the survey, there were 1,451 incidents in 2021, of which email and internet access were the cause of nearly half at 49.2%.

The most common type of incident was "Attacks via email" with 284 incidents (19.6%). Next was "Accessing unsafe websites" with 255 incidents (17.6%), followed by "Hacking via vulnerabilities in the OS, software or network devices" with 207 incidents (14.3%), and "email misdelivery" with 174 incidents (12.0%).

Including "email misdelivery," a total of 713 incidents were attributed to email and internet access, making up 49.2% of all incidents.

62.5% of incidents in 2021 were ransomware or Emotet infections

It was found that 62.5% of the 1,277 incidents that occurred in 2021 (1,451 minus 174 for email misdelivery) involved ransomware and Emotet infection.

The percentage of ransomware/Emotet infections in incidents caused by "Attacks via email," "Accessing unsafe websites," "Hacking via vulnerabilities in the OS, software or network devices," and "Hacking via vulnerabilities in remote desktop setups" all exceeded 60%, with the percentage for "Attacks via email" being 70%.

The most common measure against ransomware and Emotet was strengthening or installing antivirus software, followed by VPNs and ID/password locks.

For overall security measures, many companies placed importance on network, security monitoring/operation, and devices, with ID/password locks, email security, and firewalls as the solutions with the highest adoption rate (over 70.0%). It was also found that more than 80% of respondents planned to reinforce biometric authentication or sandboxing, solutions with adoption rates of around 30%, sometime in the future.

The reinforced solution which saw the highest increase in budget was antivirus software, with the lowest increase being biometric authentication and sandboxing.

Other findings included that 78.3% of companies have implemented working from home, with adoption rates varying by employee size. This was particularly stark among small businesses with 199 or fewer employees, where only 46.5% implemented working from home. The survey also found that 23.4% of companies have already taken zero-trust measures, and 68.0% of companies have a positive attitude toward zero-trust when including companies that answered that they are planning, developing, or considering zero-trust measures.

Email security to block entrances and internet access control to block exits are key to preventing information theft and leakage from malware.

According to the survey, the primary causes (infection routes) for ransomware and Emotet infections were "Attacks via email," "Accessing unsafe websites," "Hacking via vulnerabilities in the OS, software or network devices," and "Hacking via vulnerabilities in remote desktop setups."

We found that antivirus software, VPN, and ID/password locks are often newly introduced as countermeasures against ransomware/Emotet. However, in order to avoid becoming a victim of ransomware/Emotet, specific countermeasures against attacks via email and access to dangerous websites, which are the main factors (infection routes) and account for about half of all attacks, are also necessary.

We at Digital Arts have long endorsed email security as a way to block entrances and internet access control as a way to block exits in order to prevent information theft and leakage from malware. In addition, encryption of files containing sensitive information is an effective countermeasure should a computer become infected with malware. Security measures are important for not only being countermeasures but also for the fact that they protect information.

Through periodic surveys on information security, Digital Arts will continue to alert customers to prevent business foundation-shaking information leaks, and will strive to develop solutions to protect customers' information assets.

▼Document details▼
"Survey of security measures taken by companies and organizations nationwide" PDF

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