BARCELONA -- Mobile World Congress 2017 -- When it comes to implementing better security measures, it's the same song but a different verse for a lot of businesses.
AT&T's latest Cybersecurity Insights report found that there was a 400% increase in the first half of last year from attackers probing for vulnerabilities in IoT devices.
While new threats are hatched every day, 50% of the business surveyed hadn't changed their cybersecurity protection in over three years. Seemingly innocuous threats, such as email spam or phishing, have become major threats to businesses.
Since 2014, AT&T has seen a significant increase in botnet activity across its global network. In the six months leading up to the 2016 Dyn cyberattack, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) detected a massive recruitment of devices that built the attack's Mirai botnet.
AT&T said that it was critical that businesses improve their security best practices to protect their critical information in the cloud, at rest or in motion. Cybercrime damages are projected to rise to $6 trillion annually by 2021, according to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures.
"Every business wants new technologies that help save time, cut costs or provide better services," said Steve McGaw, chief marketing officer for AT&T Business Solutions, in a statement. "This report helps them take advantage of these technologies without compromising the security of their business."
AT&T said it blocks 75% of email traffic transmitted across its network every day due to suspicious content, which equates to 400 million spam messages each day.
Some of the cyber attack solutions from AT&T include implementing threat analytics, updating identity and access management systems and moving to SDN-based security functions.
— Mike Robuck, Editor, Telco Transformation