“Clueless.” That’s the name of a 1995 teen comedy that became a surprise box-office hit and a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of Americans. It’s also a pretty good description of an insidious new malware threat that possesses none of the customary indicators of a network intrusion.

The IRS recently issued yet another warning about yet another scheme targeting taxpayers. Hackers send emails that appear to be official notifications from the FBI and urge users to click a link and download a questionnaire related to tax law changes and compliance.

In the previous post, we discussed the recent uptick in adoption of security information and event management (SIEM) solutions, and why SIEM will continue to be a primary focus of IT investments for the next few years. SIEM provides visibility into all sources of security data across the network and integrates this data in a single solution.

As more security managers embrace a proactive approach to security and prioritize real-time threat analysis, detection and response, spending on security information and event management (SIEM) solutions continues to increase. While Gartner has predicted 5 percent to 10 percent annual growth in the overall IT security market through 2020, sales of SIEM software rose by 15.8 percent in 2016.

SIEM combines security information management (SIM) and security event management (SEM) into a single solution, enabling organizations to take a more holistic, integrated approach to security.

Cybersecurity is a cat-and-mouse game in which IT professionals and cybercriminals continually refine their tactics in an attempt to stay one step ahead of one another. The evolution of web traffic encryption provides a good case study of this process.

Studies show that more than half of all web traffic is now encrypted, largely due to increased usage of HTTPS, the secure version of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

What’s the weakest link in your network security chain? It probably doesn’t involve hardware or software. Numerous industry and government reports find that more than 90 percent of all security incidents are the direct result of human error.

The recent WannaCry ransomware outbreak was a jarring reminder that even the most advanced security technology can be undone by mistakes and miscalculations.

Nationwide Insurance just agreed to pay $5.5 million as part of a settlement following a major data breach. UCLA recently warned 30,000 current and former students that their personal data may have been compromised. HBO is investigating a breach in which hackers accessed unreleased episodes of upcoming shows.

IT officials at government agencies are becoming more aware of the risks of a frequently overlooked source of security threats – the printer. In the 2016 Center for Digital Government survey, more than one in five government IT officials acknowledged their printers were more vulnerable than other network devices.

Organizations carry insurance covering a host of different risks, from accidental injury to property damage to negligence. However, a recent survey conducted by research firm Ovum found that only half of U.S. businesses have cyber insurance, and only 16 percent have cyber policies that cover all risks.

IT security tools continue to advance at a rapid pace, as the industry races to stem the tide of cyberattacks. A new class of threat detection solutions uses real-time data analytics to spot malware and suspicious behavior older systems might miss. There are emerging tools with artificial intelligence capabilities that can automatically detect and respond to security threats.