Trend Micro Customers Lower Cyber Risk Scores Through Proactive Security
Rhea-AI Summary
Trend Micro (TYO: 4704) reported a significant improvement in cybersecurity metrics, with its Cyber Risk Index (CRI) score dropping to 38.4 in 2024, a 6.2-point decrease from 2023. The score declined consistently throughout the year, from 42.5 in February to 36.3 in December.
Key findings from the 2024 Cyber Risk Report include:
- Risky cloud app access and stale Microsoft Entra ID accounts were identified as top security risks
- Over one billion organizations had multi-factor authentication disabled
- Europe (23.5 days) and Japan (27.5 days) showed fastest Mean Time to Patch
- Education, agriculture, and construction sectors showed highest risk exposure
- Organizations with above-average CRI were 12 times more likely to suffer ransomware breaches
The report also highlighted emerging AI threats including deepfake phishing and virtual kidnapping scams, while emphasizing AI's potential in strengthening cybersecurity defenses through tools like Trend Cybertron.
Positive
- Significant improvement in cybersecurity metrics with CRI score dropping 6.2 points
- Consistent monthly decline in risk scores throughout 2024
- Europe achieved substantial seven-point CRI reduction
- Japan maintained lowest average CRI at 34.3
- Quick patch implementation in Europe (23.5 days) and Japan (27.5 days)
Negative
- Over one billion organizations identified with disabled multi-factor authentication
- Slow patch implementation in healthcare (41.5 days) and telecoms (38 days)
- High-risk exposure in education, agriculture, and construction sectors
- Organizations with above-average CRI face 12x higher ransomware risk
- Emerging AI-related security threats including deepfake phishing
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Newly published report harnesses data from Trend's platform insights on cyber risk
To read the Trend 2024 Cyber Risk Report, please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/threat-landscape/trend-2025-cyber-risk-report
Rachel Jin, chief enterprise platform officer at Trend Micro: "Trend customers are embracing our vision for proactive security by using the AI-powered Trend Vision OneTM Cyber Risk Exposure Management to identify risk and prioritize mitigations. By getting on the front foot, they can build resilience, rapidly contain threats, and become more time and resource-efficient. It's an approach that any organization can emulate with the right mindset and tooling."
The CRI score declined each month throughout the year, from 42.5 in February to 36.3 in December. While organizations remain in the Medium Risk zone, the continued decline in CRI scores reflects real progress in cyber risk reduction. It highlights a growing shift toward continuous security assessment and risk-based decision-making.
Among the highlights from this year's report are:
Most risky events: Risky cloud app access came top, followed by "stale Microsoft Entra ID account." Rounding out the top 10 were email, user account and credential-related risks; many of them misconfiguration-related. Over one billion organizations were logged with multi-factor authentication disabled on Entra ID Accounts, highlighting a clear need for enhanced, automated identity security.
Average Mean Time to Patch (MTTP): The top detected and unpatched CVEs from 2024 were "high severity" Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerabilities published in the first half of the year.
Industry breakdown: Education, agriculture and construction had the highest CRI in 2024, singling them out as the most exposed sectors.
Regional breakdown:
Ransomware: LockBit, RansomHub, and Play ransomware were responsible for the highest number of reported breaches in 2024. According to Trend research, organizations with a CRI above average are around 12 times more likely to suffer a ransomware breach than those below average.
AI: The report highlighted AI-assisted deepfake phishing, virtual kidnapping scams, and automated reconnaissance as key emerging AI threats. However, AI can also empower network defenders to better predict and prevent cyberattacks, such as via the industry-first security LLM Trend Cybertron.
To further lower their CRI, Trend urges global organizations to embrace a proactive security approach by:
- Optimizing security settings to maximize product features and get alerts on misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and other risks. And leveraging native sensors/third-party sources to build a comprehensive view of the attack surface.
- Contacting the device and/or account owner when a risky event has been detected to verify and investigate using the Vision One Workbench search function.
- Inventorying stale accounts to delete inactive and unused ones, disabling risky accounts, resetting passwords with strong credentials, and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Applying the latest patches or upgrading application/OS versions regularly
*Trend Vision One Cyber Risk Exposure Management uses its risk event catalog to formulate a risk score for each asset type and an index score for organizations. It does this by multiplying an asset's attack, exposure, and security configuration by asset criticality. The result is an integer between zero and 100 that falls into one of three levels: Low Risk (0-30), Medium Risk (31-69) and High Risk (70-100).
About Trend Micro
Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's AI-powered cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, Trend's platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 70 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.TrendMicro.com.