Cybersecurity cannot be siloed off, whether it’s from the rest of information technology or from the executive suite – it’s a risk management exercise that spans the organization and requires collaboration.
In smaller organizations, cybersecurity may be the responsibility of your IT team, or you may have dedicated personnel or a virtual chief information security officer (vCISO). Regardless, giving cybersecurity its due can be challenging for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs), as members of your IT team may wear many hats.
If you do have dedicated cybersecurity roles, it’s critical that they are integrated into your IT team – collaboration is critical for both efficiency and effectiveness. Collaboration requires both best practices and technology.
Because the members of small IT teams tend to be multi-functional, it’s essential that everyone is clear on their responsibilities. You need to have a shared vision for your cybersecurity strategy that clearly defines goals and roles related to assessment, protection, and response.
It’s extremely easy to fall into the trap of thinking that adding more technology tools will make your organization more secure, but when you are resource constrained, it you must reduce complexity by streamlining security tools and employing a network management platform that centralizes visibility and control.
Centralizing data and automating alerts give you the agility to quickly and more effective identify threats, respond to any incidents, and mitigate risk, even if you have few in-house IT staff dedicated to security.
Cybersecurity collaboration should extend to the C-suite by keeping executive management in the loop as well as to every employee through regular security awareness training so they can play their role in preventing incidents caused by social engineering attacks such as phishing scams.
You should also conduct regular security drills that simulate cyber attacks or other disruptions to business operations to keep everyone on their toes and ensure that everyone can respond to a security incident smoothly and collaboratively.
Collaboration on cybersecurity is especially critical for SMBs but can be challenging given the inherent resource constraints. Working with a managed service provider with a focus on security that can provide a vCISO can help your inhouse IT and security staff collaborate more effectively.
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.
