Trend Micro Warns Devices and Accounts are Highest-Risk Assets

Rhea-AI Summary

Trend Micro's 2024 Cyber Risk Report highlights critical vulnerabilities and offers new ways to prioritize risk management. The report, based on data from Trend Vision One™ platform, calculates risk scores for various asset types. Key findings include:

- Devices and accounts are the highest-risk assets
- 877,316 devices and 12,346 accounts classified as high-risk
- Americas has the highest average risk index (43.4)
- Mining sector has the highest risk score
- Pharmaceuticals patch vulnerabilities fastest

The report emphasizes the need for greater visibility into risk across attack surfaces and recommends steps to mitigate cyber risk, including optimizing security settings, investigating risky events, disabling or resetting risky accounts, and regular patching.

Positive

• Trend Micro's Vision One™ platform provides comprehensive threat visibility and risk mitigation tools
• The report offers granular metrics by region, company size, industry, and asset type
• Europe is the quickest region to patch vulnerabilities, indicating strong security practices
• Pharmaceuticals sector patches vulnerabilities fastest, reflecting importance of data protection

Negative

• 877,316 devices and 12,346 accounts classified as high-risk
• Americas has the highest average risk index among regions (43.4)
• Mining sector has the highest risk score due to large attack surface and position in global supply chains
• Many weak configurations detected, especially around security control settings

Cyber Risk Report highlights critical vulnerability, offers new ways to prioritize risk management

DALLAS, Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today urged network defenders to gain greater visibility into risk across their attack surface, after unveiling a new study* which provides granular metrics by region, company size, industry, asset type and more.

The report also uncovered many weak configurations that could lead to compromise, especially around security controls.

To read a full copy of the report, Intercepting Impact: 2024 Trend Micro Cyber Risk Report, please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/intercepting-impact-2024-trend-micro-cyber-risk-report 

Jon Clay, VP of threat intelligence at Trend Micro: "Trend's cyber risk report shares key insights on where risks are greatest within organizations such as weak security controls, misconfigurations, and unpatched actively exploited vulnerabilities. Shifting towards a more risk-based approach to cybersecurity—discovering the entire attack surface, using AI to calculate the actual risk, and providing mitigating controls advice—allows an organization to improve its cybersecurity posture like never before. This is a game changer for the industry."

Using a risk event catalog, the Trend Vision One™ platform calculates a risk score for each asset type and an index for organizations by multiplying an asset's attack, exposure, and security configuration by impact. An asset with low business impact and few privileges has a smaller attack surface, while higher-value assets with more privileges have a larger attack surface.

The following assets are the most at risk:

• Devices: 22.6 million total devices, with 877,316 classified as high-risk.
• Accounts: 53.9 million total accounts, with 12,346 classified as high-risk.
• Cloud Assets: 14.5 million total cloud assets, with 9,944 classified as high-risk.
• Internet-Facing Assets: 1.1 million total, with 1,661 classified as high-risk.
• Applications: 8.8 million total applications, with 489 classified as high-risk.

The number of high-risk devices is much higher than that of accounts, even though there are more accounts in total. Devices have a larger attack surface—i.e., they can be targeted with more threats. However, accounts are still valuable as they can grant threat actors access to various resources.

Elsewhere, the report also found:

• Americas has the highest average risk index among regions, with an average risk index rating of 43.4, driven by vulnerabilities in the banking sector and critical infrastructure and the region's attractiveness to profit-driven actors.
• Europe is the quickest region to patch vulnerabilities, indicating strong security practices.
• Mining has the highest risk score of any vertical due to its strategic position in global supply chains and large attack surface.
• Pharmaceuticals are the fastest sector to patch vulnerabilities by several days, reflecting the importance of protecting sensitive data.
• The top detected risk event is accessing cloud applications with a high risk level based on historical application data, known security features, and community knowledge.
• Old and inactive accounts, accounts with disabled security controls, and sensitive data being sent outside the network are other risk events with high event counts.

The report also uncovered many weak configurations that could lead to compromise, especially around security control settings.

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations' ability to identify and manage risks is becoming increasingly crucial. The Trend Vision One™ platform, with its integrated Attack Surface Risk Management (ASRM), provides the necessary tools for comprehensive threat visibility and effective risk mitigation.

The following steps are recommended to help mitigate cyber risk:

• Optimize product security settings to get alerts on misconfigurations.
• When a risky event is detected, contact the device and/or account owner to verify the event. Investigate the event using the Trend Vision One™ Workbench search function to find more information about or check event details on the product management server.
• Disable risky accounts or reset them with a strong password and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA).
• Apply the latest patches or upgrade application and operation system versions regularly.

*The report is based on telemetry data from Trend Micro's Attack Surface Risk Management (ASRM) solution in its flagship cybersecurity platform, Trend Vision One™, plus the native eXtended Detection and Response (XDR) tools. It's divided into two sections: the user side covers risk in assets, processes, and vulnerabilities, while the adversary side maps adversary behaviors, MITRE, and TTPs. Data points are based on telemetry from December 25, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

About Trend Micro
Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's AI-powered cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, Trend's platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 70 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.TrendMicro.com.

 

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SOURCE Trend Micro Incorporated

FAQ

What are the highest-risk assets according to Trend Micro's 2024 Cyber Risk Report?

According to Trend Micro's 2024 Cyber Risk Report, devices and accounts are identified as the highest-risk assets. Specifically, out of 22.6 million total devices, 877,316 are classified as high-risk, and out of 53.9 million total accounts, 12,346 are classified as high-risk.

Which region has the highest average risk index in Trend Micro's 2024 Cyber Risk Report?

The Americas region has the highest average risk index among regions, with an average risk index rating of 43.4. This is driven by vulnerabilities in the banking sector and critical infrastructure, as well as the region's attractiveness to profit-driven actors.

What industry sector has the highest risk score according to Trend Micro's 2024 Cyber Risk Report?

According to Trend Micro's 2024 Cyber Risk Report, the mining sector has the highest risk score of any vertical. This is due to its strategic position in global supply chains and large attack surface.

What steps does Trend Micro (TMICY) recommend to mitigate cyber risk based on their 2024 report?

Trend Micro recommends the following steps to mitigate cyber risk: 1) Optimize product security settings to get alerts on misconfigurations, 2) Investigate risky events using the Trend Vision One™ Workbench, 3) Disable risky accounts or reset them with strong passwords and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), and 4) Apply the latest patches or upgrade application and operation system versions regularly.