A new study by Vanson Bourne, commissioned by security firm McAfee, analyzes so-called Advanced Evasion Techniques (AETs) and their role in sophisticated cyberattacks.
The survey was conducted among 800 CIOs and security experts, representing companies from the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Australia and South Africa.
According to the survey results, 22% of participants admitted that their systems were breached during the last 12 months, while 40% of them believe that sophisticated evasion techniques played a significant role in carrying out the intrusions.
The total damage caused by attacks exceeds $1 million.
This specific form of threat is used to bypass all protection methods used by network security systems, without being noticed.
"We're no longer dealing with some random drive-by scanner that simply looks for obvious entrances to your network. In today's digital world, we're dealing with adversaries who spend weeks or months studying your network footprint, looking for one small detail that will allow them to gain access to it," noted JohnMasserini.
"AET attacks pose a serious threat because most security solutions are unable to detect or stop them. Security professionals and executives must be vigilant, as this is a real and growing threat."
