Ponemon Institute Study Finds Organizations Remain Under Siege and Vulnerable to SQL Injection Attacks

Online, April 16, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Privacy and information security research firm Ponemon Institute, along with DB Networks, an innovator of behavioral analysis in database security, today announced the results of the Ponemon Institute's first-of-its-kind SQL injection threat study. The study found that 65 percent of respondents had experienced SQL injection attacks that successfully evaded their perimeter defenses in the past 12 months. Furthermore, each SQL injection breach took an average of nearly 140 days to discover and required an additional 68 days on average to remediate.

The report, "The SQL Injection Threat Study," was independently conducted by the Ponemon Institute, one of the world's foremost authorities on data security and privacy. The research was conducted to determine the challenges facing organizations around the pervasiveness of SQL injection attacks, and opinions on how to stop these threats. The study analyzed responses from 595 IT security practitioners in the United States working across a broad spectrum of industries and also the public sector. Fifty-nine percent of respondents worked for organizations with 5,000 or more employees.

"We believe this is the first study to survey the risks and remedies regarding SQL injection attacks, and the results are very revealing," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of the Ponemon Institute. "It is commonly accepted that organizations believe they struggle with SQL injection vulnerabilities, and almost half of the respondents said the SQL injection threat facing their organization is very significant, but this study examines much deeper issues. For example, only a third of those surveyed (34 percent) agreed or strongly agreed that their organization presently had the technology or tools to quickly detect SQL injection attacks. And more than half (52 percent) of respondents indicated that they don't test or validate any third party software to ensure it's not vulnerable to SQL injection."

For a copy of the study, see: http://www.dbnetworks.com/form/Ponemon_SQL_Injection_Threat_Survey.htm

Additional key findings of the study include:
• Nearly half (46 percent) were familiar with the term "WAF Bypass."

• 56 percent agreed or strongly agreed that determining the root cause of SQL injection is becoming more difficult because of the trend for employees to use their personally owned mobile devices in the workplace (BYOD).

• 52 percent of respondents indicated that they don't test or validate any third party software to ensure it's not vulnerable to SQL injection.

• 44 percent utilize professional penetration testers to identify vulnerabilities in their IT systems; but only a third (35 percent) of those penetration tests included testing for SQL injection vulnerabilities.

• 88 percent of respondents had a favorable or very favorable opinion of the use of behavioral analysis technology for detecting SQL injection attacks.

• 52 percent indicated they either had begun replacing or would be replacing their signature-based IT security systems with behavioral analysis based IT security systems within the next 24 months.

• 49 percent said they would be using behavioral analysis based systems specifically for database transaction security.

"It's well known that SQL injection attacks are rampant and have proven to be devastating to organization of all sizes," said Brett Helm, Chairman and CEO of DB Networks. "This study delves into both the scope and many of the root causes of SQL injection breaches. Signature-based perimeter defenses simply cannot keep up with the sophistication of today's complex SQL injection attacks. It's interesting that this study indicates security professionals are now recognizing this and overwhelmingly had a favorable opinion of applying behavioral analysis technologies to address the SQL injection threat."

About Ponemon Institute
The Ponemon Institute© is dedicated to advancing responsible information and privacy management practices in business and government. To achieve this objective, the Institute conducts independent research, educates leaders from the private and public sectors, and verifies the privacy and data protection practices of organizations in a variety of industries.

About DB Networks
DB Networks® is innovating behavioral analysis technology in the field of database security. Developed for organizations that need to protect their data from advanced attacks, including Zero-Day attacks, DB Networks offers effective countermeasures against SQL injection attacks. Database attacks happen rapidly - in a matter of minutes - and bypass traditional perimeter security measures. DB Networks' unique approach uses behavioral analysis technology to automatically learn each application's proper SQL statement behavior. Any SQL statement dispatched from the application that deviates from the established behavioral model immediately raises an alarm as a possible attack. DB Networks is a privately held company headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information, see http://www.dbnetworks.com, or call (800) 598-0450.

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