Microsoft yesterday released a Security Signals report which shows that firmware attacks are on the rise, and detailed how they were working to help eliminate this entire class of threats. Some key points from the study include:
- Cybersecurity threats are always evolving, and today we’re seeing a new wave of advanced attacks targeting areas of computing that don’t have the protection of the cloud. New data shows that firmware attacks are on the rise, and businesses aren’t paying close enough attention to securing this critical layer.
- Firmware, which lives below the operating system, is emerging as a primary target because it is where sensitive information like credentials and encryption keys are stored in memory. Many devices in the market today don’t offer visibility into that layer to ensure that attackers haven’t compromised a device prior to the boot process or at runtime bellow the kernel. And attackers have noticed.
- Lack of automation is another factor causing organizations to lose time and detracting from building better prevention strategies. Seventy-one percent said their staff spends too much time on work that should be automated, and that number creeps up to 82% among the teams who said they don’t have enough time for strategic work. Overall, security teams are spending 41% of their time on firmware patches that could be automated.
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