The extended enterprise has created more business opportunities, but it also carries with it an extended threat of risk: the more the information enterprises have to distribute and manage in more places, the greater the risk of that information being accessed by unauthorized parties.

There are very few businesses that have not yet been hit by some form of electronic attack - from very minor bits of spam email that appear in the inboxes to potentially business-threatening malware and viruses. When such incidents are discovered, the response to them is critical. The damage must be contained quickly - customer data protected, the root cause found, and an accurate record of events and losses produced for the authorities. Furthermore, the investigation process must collect this evidence without adversely affecting the integrity of the information assets involved in the crime. Thus, such forensics provide not just a sense of what has happened but also vital clues as to how recurrence of such attacks could be prevented.

The 2008 Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations Report draws from over 500 forensic investigations handled by the Verizon Business Investigative Response team over a four-year period. This factual evidence offers an objective, first-hand view of real-life data breaches. From the multitude of data collected, the company was able to weave together the stories and statistics from compromise victims around the world, interpreting their tales and aiming to allow fellow IT professionals to avoid what happened to them.

In terms of risks faced by individual industries, the retail, food, and beverage industries account for more than half of all cases in the research. Financial services, though certainly the keepers of great monetary assets, are also well protected in comparison to other industries; they account for 14 percent of breaches. Technology services - including software firms, data warehousing companies, and telecommunication providers - form the only other industry sector with over 10 percent of breaches.

The team also reported a marked increase in forensic engagements outside North America, which was regarded as a part of a broader trend of the world becoming more interconnected through information technologies. As enterprises aggressively seek global partnerships, and as the laws governing the handling and disclosure of such incidents mature, it is likely that this trend will continue.