2024 Data Breach Investigations Report: Most breaches involve a non-malicious human element

The exploitation of vulnerabilities as an initial point of entry almost tripled from the previous year, accounting for 14% of all breaches, according to Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, which analyzed a record-high 30,458 security incidents and 10,626 confirmed breaches in 2023.

This spike was driven primarily by the increasing frequency of attacks targeting vulnerabilities on unpatched systems and devices (zero-day vulnerabilities) by ransomware actors. The MOVEit software breach was one of the largest drivers of these cyberattacks, first in the education sector and later spreading to finance and insurance industries.

“The exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities by ransomware actors remains a persistent threat to safeguarding enterprises,” said Chris Novak, Sr. Director of Cybersecurity Consulting, Verizon Business.

In a possible relief to some anxieties, the rise of AI was less of a culprit vs challenges in large-scale vulnerability management. “While the adoption of artificial intelligence to gain access to valuable corporate assets is a concern on the horizon, a failure to patch basic vulnerabilities has threat actors not needing to advance their approach,” Novak said.

Analysis of the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog revealed that on average it takes organizations 55 days to remediate 50% of critical vulnerabilities following the availability of patches. Meanwhile, the median time for detecting the mass exploitations of the CISA KEV on the internet is five days.

“This year’s DBIR findings reflect the evolving landscape that today’s CISO’s must navigate – balancing the need to address vulnerabilities quicker than ever before while investing in the continued employee education as it relates to ransomware and cybersecurity hygiene,” said Craig Robinson, Research VP, Security Services at IDC. “The breadth and depth of the incidents examined in this report provides a window into how breaches are occurring, and despite the low-level of complexity are still proving to be incredibly costly for enterprises.”

Last year, 15% of breaches involved a third party, including data custodians, third-party software vulnerabilities, and other direct or indirect supply chain issues. This metric—new for the 2024 DBIR — shows a 68% increase from the previous period described in the 2023 DBIR.

The human factor remains the primary entry point for cybercriminals

68% of breaches, whether they include a third party or not, involve a non-malicious human element, which refers to a person making an error or falling prey to a social engineering attack. This percentage is about the same as last year. One potential countervailing force is the improvement of reporting practices: 20% of users identified and reported phishing in simulation engagements, and 11% of users who clicked the email also reported it.

“The persistence of the human element in breaches shows that there is still plenty of room for improvement with regard to cybersecurity training, but the increase in self-reporting indicates a culture change that destigmatizes human error and may serve to shine a light on the importance of cybersecurity awareness among the general workforce,” Novak added.

Other key findings from this year’s report include:

• 32% of all breaches involved some type of extortion technique, including ransomware
• Over the past two years, roughly a quarter (between 24% and 25%) of financially motivated incidents involved pretexting
• Over the past 10 years, the Use of stolen credentials has appeared in almost one-third (31%) of all breaches
• Half of the reaches in EMEA are internal
• Espionage attacks continue to dominate in APAC region

“The Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report shows it’s the still the basics security errors putting organizations at risk, such as long windows between discovering and patching vulnerabilities, and employees being inadequately trained to identify scams. This needs to change as a priority because no business can afford to gamble or take chances with cyber hygiene. Just look at Change Healthcare, the breach was executed via an unsecured employee credential and the organization is now facing over a billion in losses. No other organisation wants to find itself in this position,” William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security, told Help Net Security.