In 2015, it seemed no one was safe from hackers. The year began with Sony reeling from a hack that put the studio and celebrities such as Seth Rogen and James Franco in a web of geopolitics and extortion. Seven months later came the high-profile Ashley Madison hack, which resulted in the release of the email and physical addresses for 37 million users. Cybercriminals stole $1 billion from banks in 30 countries as part of the Carbanak hack. Even the Director of the CIA wasn’t safe – his AOL email account was hacked by someone claiming to be a high school student.

Even brick and mortar companies are increasingly leveraging the internet and cloud services to expand their business. As traditional business models have changed to incorporate these resources, the security risks presented have evolved as well. In today’s world of digital business, the security risks faced by the majority of companies have largely shifted into the cyber realm. 

A new research paper has listed the top-ten least-secure passwords currently in use online.

Last November, the British government announced a £1.9 billion increase in cybersecurity spending.

In the past 12 months, roughly one in three targeted attacks resulted in an actual security breach, which equates to two to three effective attacks per month for the average company.