Security improving at UK organisations

The number of UK organisations vulnerable to hacking attacks has almost halved, according to a report from NTA Monitor.

NTA tested for critical vulnerabilities that are exploited by hackers and found that 32%, of the sample, were vulnerable to these attacks compared to 61% in the same study last year.

The industry sectors measured included education, finance, government, IT, law and retail.

Roy Hills, technical director at NTA Monitor, said security flaws discovered included those that “could permit hackers to gain entry to corporate networks and change users’ passwords or delete files, which could wreak corporate havoc.”

NTA Monitor has a number of recommendations for companies fighting web-based security threats.

These include advice for companies to stay up to date on the latest vulnerabilities and apply patches and updates as soon as they become available, as well as allocating sufficient resources to ensure that preventative actions are carried out on an ongoing basis.

Web users warned of cross site script attacks >>

Web application security vulnerabilities by the numbers >>

Anti-malware tools: Eight tips in eight minutes >>

David Lacey’s security blog >>

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