AT&T: U.S. businesses suffered 43M security incidents in 2014, up 48 percent

AT&T (NYSE: T) said in a new report that businesses experienced about 43 million security incidents in 2014, up 48 percent from 2013. That equals 117,000 attacks daily, the service provider said.

A key threat that was common in its report was distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In the past two years, AT&T found that DDoS attacks rose 62 percent.

Besides DDoS attacks, AT&T saw a 458 percent increase in the number of times hackers searched Internet of Things (IoT) connections for vulnerabilities.

Despite the rise in threats, the report points out that a number of companies have not taken action because their boards and executives don’t have access to relevant information and resources to address cybersecurity issues.

The company found that nearly 75 percent of businesses don’t involve their board of directors in cybersecurity oversight, while nearly another 51 percent of organizations are not re-evaluating their information security as a result of high-visibility data breaches.

Perhaps even more disturbing is that about 78 of all employees don’t comply with their company’s security policies. Employees not following security policies will likely continue to rise as more of them use their own devices to access the company’s network remotely from their own tablet computers and smart phones.

AT&T outlined five main cybersecurity threat sources: corporate espionage, nation states, organized cybercrime, hacktivists, and malicious insiders.

In tandem with the report, AT&T has launched new version of its online Security Resource Center, which it said helps keep businesses, individuals, and security professionals informed and prepared daily. At the portal, users can find the latest current security trends, information on emerging issues and trends, and guides to help businesses and consumers prevent, detect, and respond to threats.