Computing Technology Industry Association's (CompTIA's) 8th Annual Global Security Trends Study found that 63% of U.S. enterprises where hit by at least one security breach in the past year.
Half of the companies that reported a security breach characterized the event as serious, impacting the company financially or hindering operations.
The report shows companies are facing a slew of threats, from malware and virus infections to social engineering.
The biggest factor noted in security events was cited as being errors or lack of compliance with policies and procedures by employees - more evidence that the biggest threat to security is the human element.
Respondents indicated that the use of social networks and web-based applications were increasingly presenting security challenges to the organization.
The state of the economy and the growing sophistication of criminal activity were also cited as significant factors in data breach events.
Thirty-four percent of those survey mentioned the turnover of personnel and data access control issues related to ex-employees as contributing to increased threat levels.
On a positive note, half of the companies studied report information security as a top priority within the organization, up from one-third only two years ago.