THE RING OF FIRE

The Cyber-Attack Ring of Fire maps business sectors based on the likelohood an organization in these sectors will experience cyber-attacks. Data about these attacks is used to determine the frequency against each sector. That data is used to classify each sector within the Ring of Fire’s five risk levels spanning low, medium and high likelihood of attack. As sectors move closer to the red center, such organizations are more likely to experience denial-of-service and other cyber-related attacks..

As risk levels change so should mitigation calculations. When this does not happen, the likelihood of a cyber- attack resulting in a network outage or service degradation increases. Organizations in the verticals marked with a red arrow are wise to take swift action—adjusting cyber-attack detection and mitigation strategies to address the new risk level from threat actors.

There have been changes to the Cyber-Attack Ring of Fire since last year. Service providers (including telecommunications and Internet Service Providers) moved closer to the center, with 23% of organization reporting daily attacks. Government follows, with one in four organizations attacked on a daily basis. Financial services and gaming companies also stayed at the center of likelihood while retail, education and healthcare are at moderate to high attack frequency, with healthcare on the rise due to lower preparedness levels and valuable confidential data. Companies in energy and high-tech have a low risk level once again this year due to a naturally tighter security mindset. Governments’ risk reduced slightly as hackers engaged more in cyber-crime over hacktivism, thereby resulting in fewer attacks against them. In addition to industry, company size can affect likelihood of attack; larger businesses have greater odds of being targeted.

Vendors. These are the skilled hackers who want to turn their capabilities into products and services to meet growing demand from hacking consumers.