in 2016 , according to Radware 's Global Application and Network Security Report 2016-2017 . Data loss topped the list of IT professionals ' cyber attack concerns , the report found , with 27 % of tech leaders reporting this as their greatest worry . It was followed by service outage ( 19 % ) , reputation loss ( 16 % ) , and customer or partner loss ( 9 % ) . Malware or bot attacks hit half of all organizations surveyed in the last year . Some 55 % of respondents reported that IoT ecosystems had complicated their cybersecurity detection measures , as they create more vulnerabilities . Ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomin particular continue to increase rapidly : 41 % of respondents reported that ransomAttack.Ransomwas the top motivator behind the cyber attacks they experienced in 2016 . Meanwhile , 27 % of respondents cited insider threats , 26 % said political hacktivism , and 26 % said competition . SEE : HR managers beware : Ransomware could be your next job applicant While large-scale DDoS attacks dominated the headlines of 2016 , this report found that only 4 % of all attacks were more than 50 Gbps , while more than 83 % of DDoS attacks reported were under 1 Gbps . `` One thing is clear : Money is the top motivator in the threat landscape today , '' said Carl Herberger , vice president of security solutions at Radware , in a press release . `` Attackers employ an ever-increasing number of tactics to stealAttack.Databreachvaluable information , from ransom attacksAttack.Ransomthat can lock up a company 's data , to DDoS attacks that act as a smoke screen for information theftAttack.Databreach, to direct brute force or injection attacks that grant direct accessAttack.Databreachto internal data . '' Despite the growth in attacks , some 40 % of organizations reported that they do not have an incident response plan in place , the survey found .
How is it possible for users to lose hundreds of dollars in anomalous online bank transfers when all of their gadgets have security software installed ? Last year , user Y , who is based in Brazil , lost R $ 600 ( US $ 191.02 , as of January 30 , 2017 ) as a side effect of information theftAttack.Databreach. Upon discovering this , Y immediately called an IT technician to find the root cause . But since no malware was found in the devices connected to the network , he then reviewed the home router settings . What he found was interesting : even though the home router did not expose any remote management interface to the internet , the DNS settings were still modified . In another case , user X noticed R $ 3,000 ( US $ 955.11 , as of January 30 , 2017 ) was deducted from her account last January 2016 . Her home router was also infected with a malicious DNS-changing malware . Routers often have unsecure configurations that make them susceptible to malware attacks similar to the real-world cases we presented aboveVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. For one , security flaws exist inVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe operating system , firmware , and web applications of routers . Attackers can simply use these vulnerabilities as entry points to further compromise the home network . Web-based scripts are an effective tactic to infiltrate routers .