Menlo ransomware research

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Organizations are facing a greater risk of Ransomware cyberattacks this festive season according to research by Menlo Security (www.menlosecurity.com) with 80% of workers in the UK and USA saying that they are concerned about personal data being stolen while online shopping for Christmas even though they are taking measures to mitigate the risks, they often have false confidence in their security posture.  

There are now more threats to corporate devices and networks than ever as hybrid work models blur the boundaries between work and home.  More than half of respondents (53% UK; 56% US) reported performing non-work-related tasks – such as online shopping – on company devices.  

Nearly 50% (48%) of respondents in the UK (58% US) say they are seeing an increase in scams and fraudulent messages.  However, despite workers’ recognition and concern of cyber threats, 65% of people (60% US) still believe they are secure from cyberthreats if they are using a company device.

“Workers are becoming increasingly aware of the threats that loom while browsing the web, however they have a false sense of security about the level of protection they have when using corporate devices.  As a result, they are unintentionally exposing their corporate networks to a slew of vulnerabilities,” says Mark Guntrip, senior director, cybersecurity strategy, Menlo Security.

“More employees are using company-issued devices for not only work, but also personal tasks like shopping and banking, which is putting entire networks at risk of being breached.  To mitigate this risky behaviour, organizations must make it a priority to adopt a Zero Trust security approach to prevent cyberattacks before they happen and ensure that they’re protected if they do fall victim to bad actors.”

Workers depend on laptops, mobile devices and the web to conduct work no matter where they’re located and many of these tasks are being done in the browser.  The Menlo Security survey found that 70% of people (76% US) spend one or more hours in a browser each day conducting work tasks.  

An industry report from Forrester and Google found that business users spend 75% of their workday either working in a web browser or attending virtual meetings – which is in turn making them susceptible to hackers who lurk on the web.

Menlo Security has a clientless-first approach to implementing Zero Trust Network Access, enabling organizations to secure access to applications from all devices – including managed, unmanaged, and mobile devices.  Unlike many ZTNA solutions that cannot monitor traffic being sent and received between an end user and a controlled application, Menlo Private Access ensures that security policy is always enforced by remaining inline between the end user and protected applications; utilising its Elastic Isolation Core as a control point to prevent sensitive data loss and stop potential malware from reaching the endpoint.