Lock Down: Our Top 6 Security Takeaways
used with permission from Cisco

If you€re reading this right now, you€re on the internet. You appreciate the ability to work, surf and shop on the world wide web without having your information exploited, and you think you know the basics: use secure sites, don€t store your credit card information, and don€t open sketchy emails. In 2014, that may not be enough.

 The sophistication of the technology and tactics used by online criminals€and their nonstop attempts to breach networks and steal data€have outpaced the ability of IT and security professionals to address these threats. With the rush of new technology, new threats were detected every day in 2013- up 14% from 2012. Here are some of our guidelines for staying safe in 2014.

  1. Make sure your computer€s security system is ALWAYS up to date. One-hundred percent of a sample of 30 of the world€s largest Fortune 500 company networks generated visitor traffic to Web sites that host malware.
  2. It€s not just your computer: Ninety-nine percent of all mobile malware targeted Android devices.

  3. Diversity is key: Java is the most common language spoken by computers- and the most frequently exploited programming language targeted by online criminals.

  4. Multipurpose Trojans counted as the most frequently encountered web-delivered malware, at 27 percent of total encounters in 2013. Keep your passwords safe and backdoors €locked€ by checking all email attachments.

  5. Specific business sectors have a higher malware encounter rates. You€ve always been careful accessing higher risk sites in the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronics manufacturing industries, but now we€ve seen more malware encounters in the agriculture and mining sectors.

For more of our findings, check out the Cisco Annual Security Report.