FireEye Inc has announced the release of its annual M-Trends report, which found that attackers are present in EMEA organisations’ networks a median of 3.5 months before being detected. The report is based on information gathered during investigations conducted by FireEye’s security analysts in 2016 and uncovers emerging trends and tactics threat actors used to compromise organisations.
“In 2016 we saw cyber-attacks spread widely and publicly into areas such as elections, and attackers became more sophisticated. By looking at the dropping levels of dwell time we can see that organisations are improving, but there is still much to do as attackers only need a few days to complete their objectives,” said Stuart McKenzie, Vice President of Mandiant at FireEye. “The improvement is down to increased awareness, technical advances and investments in effective resources. Government enforced schemes like GDPR are also encouraging organisations to get their houses in order. However, when compared to the rest of the world, EMEA still lags behind significantly in some areas which boardrooms across the region will have to fix quickly.”