5 Key Security Trends No Business Can Ignore

As we approach the second quarter of 2023, there’s no shortage of cybersecurity trends that must be kept on the radar. If you’re responsible for security at your organization, it can be hard to wrap your arms around all of them, but here are five key threats that continue pose significant threats to all businesses, large or small.

Ransomware

The recent ransomware attack on the Indigo, one of Canada’s largest retailers, is a reminder that ransomware remains one the most significant threats to the digital infrastructure of every business. Attacks often come from remote devices as working from home has become normalized – policies and processes to secure endpoint devices haven’t kept up. In the meantime, state-sponsored ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure continue to rise.

Make sure you’ve bolstered your endpoint defence and replicated your data so that you’re not put in a position where your business can can’t serve customers because of a ransomware attack.

More attack surfaces

If you’ve got a remote workforce, you’ve got a wider attack surface. Couple that with internet of things (IoT) deployments, APIs and cloud computing instances, and threat actors have a larger selection of vulnerabilities they can exploit with ransomware, malware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Multi-vector attacks on are also on the rise – as you’re fighting off one active threat, bad actors will simultaneously try to exploit another vulnerability.

Smarter bots

Bots are getting more sophisticated, which means they’re better at evading your security measures to spread malware and target your IT infrastructure with DDoS attacks. You need the tools and expertise in place to detect, prevent and mitigate malicious behavior.

Inside jobs are on the rise

Some security threats often come from within, even if they’re not always intentional. Whether it’s poor security hygiene or a disgruntled employee, threats from the inside have continued to rise in recent years. Hybrid work has exacerbated the problem, making authentication and authorization errors and human error more likely to compromise your IT infrastructure. Combine the use of insecure personal devices and poor access control and you have a recipe for a data breach that’s an inside job.

Zero Trust is becoming table stakes

These threats and trends mean that taking a Zero Trust approach to security is becoming non-negotiable. With so many endpoints and remote workers connecting to your network and cloud-based applications, you need granular control – employees should only have access to applications, networks and compute resources necessary to do their jobs.

You can begin implementing a Zero Trust approach to security by segmenting your network, continuously monitoring of all user behavior, and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA). All of these will help to better thwart threats such as ransomware and reduce your attack surfaces.

Tackling a Zero Trust implementation alone can appear overwhelming, so consider turning to an experienced managed service provider who can help you evaluate your current security posture and how ready you are to face these key security trends in 2023 and beyond.

There are many ways artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning already impact cybersecurity. You can expect that trend to continue in 2024 – both as tools for data protection as well as a threat.

Balancing Cybersecurity Innovation Amid Evolving Threat Landscapes

Even as you implement AI and machine learning into your cybersecurity strategy through the adoption of tools like Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR), so are threat actors. They will continue to update and evolve their own methodologies and tools to compromise their targets by applying AI and machine learning to how they use ransomware, malware and deepfakes.

With small and medium-sized businesses just much at risk as their large enterprise counterparts, SMBs must take advantage of AI and machine learning as mush possible. AI-directed attacks are expected to rise in 2024 in the form of deepfake technologies that make phishing and impersonation more effective, as well as evolving ransomware and malware.

Deepfake social engineering techniques

Deepfake technologies that leverage AI are especially worrisome, as they can create fake content that spurs employees and organizations to work against their best interests. Hackers can use deepfakes to create massive changes with serious financial consequences, including altering stock prices.

Deepfake social engineering techniques will only improve with the use of AI, increasing the likelihood of data breaches through unauthorized access to systems and more authentic looking phishing messages that are more personalized, and hence, more effective.

Countering Cyber Threats and Harnessing Innovation in 2024

If hackers are keen on leveraging AI and machine learning to defeat your cybersecurity, you must be ready to combat them in equal measure – just as AI and machine learning will create new challenges in 2024, they can also help you bolster your cybersecurity. While regulations are being developed to foster ethical use of AI, threat actors are not likely to follow them.

AI will also affect your cyber insurance as your providers will use it to assess your resilience against cyberattacks and adjust your premium payments accordingly. AI presents an opportunity for you to improve your cybersecurity to keep those insurance costs under control.

Conclusion

There’s a lot of doom being predicted around the growing use of AI and machine learning. And while it does pose a risk to your organization and its sensitive data, you can use it to bolster your cybersecurity even as threat actors leverage AI to up the ante. A managed service provider with a focus on security can help you use AI and machine learning to protect your organization as we head into 2024.

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