Cyber espionage is now the most common form of attack in three major industries, according to the Verizon 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) released on Wednesday.

Financial services, healthcare and the public sector are the reported target in one fifth of all attacks.

Amid increased media attention, ransomware attacks were revealed as the fastest growing threat, doubling from last year.

"Cyber attacks targeting the human factor are still a major issue," says Bryan Sartin, executive director of global security services, Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

Many attacks target the points where humans are relied on for security. Passwords are a target for more than 80 per cent of attacks, according to the release.

The findings come on the heels of major recent security breaches for big names in the industry.

Microsoft moved quickly to patch a bug in its Word software after it was revealed hackers could potentially gain access to a user's personal banking details through an exploit.

Accounts of Google's YouTube were defaced on several occasions in mid-April via a hacker, but were corrected by the hosting network without permanent damage being inflicted.

The DBIR combines data from 42,068 incidents across a wide variety of industries, organisations and countries.