Energy & utilities
The major risk factors of an energy and/or utilities data breach are unique compared to other highly vulnerable industries. A recent study from the Ponemon Institute found that while 75 percent of energy and utility companies had experienced a data breach in the last 12 months, an astounding 71 percent of IT security professionals surveyed said that "the management team in their organization does not understand or appreciate the value of IT security.” The same study found that 67 percent of energy and utility organizations aren't using "state of the art" technology to stop attacks against supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and 41 percent said their approach to SCADA security wasn't at all proactive. Companies need to ensure that the most up-to-date encryption solutions are being implemented to avoid any drastic ramifications that may result from a breach in this vertical.