The majority of hackers agree phishing is the most effective strategy for data exfiltration, according to a Bitglass report.
For the report, the data protection company surveyed 129 "white hat" and "black hat" hackers that attended the Black Hat 2017 cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas in July.
Here are five insights into hacker behaviors.
1. Fifty-nine percent of respondents indicated phishing was the best strategy for data exfiltration.
2. The second most effective strategy for data exfiltration respondents cited was malware and ransomware (27 percent).
3. The two security tools respondents cited as least effective were password-protected documents (33 percent) and facial recognition (19 percent).
4. Here are the top five data security "blind spots" respondents indicated:
- Unmanaged devices: 61 percent
- Systems that are not up-to-date: 55 percent
- Mobile devices: 36 percent
- Data "at rest" in the cloud: 26 percent
- Traditional on-premises security: 20 percent
5. The majority of respondents (83 percent) indicated hackers are motivated by the financial value of stolen data. Ego and entertainment play a smaller role, according to the respondents.
Click here to view the full report.