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According to cybersecurity experts, the cost of cybercrime is projected to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, seriously hurting businesses. This significant figure highlights the importance of cybersecurity across different sectors and the growing demand for experts in the IT security field.
As the world has become increasingly digitised, technology has created opportunities and challenges for companies. For example, statistics show that only in the first quarter of 2023, over six million data records were exposed to a data breach on a global scale.
Data breaches happen whenever sensitive data is changed, disclosed, lost or destroyed, causing material or non-material damage (or both). With resources like https://www.databreachclaims.org.uk really handy, victims can immediately learn their rights, and if it turns out that your company was at fault for the data breach (and you failed to protect customers’ data), you will suffer financial and reputational damage. This is definitely something you want to avoid to keep your business thriving.
With the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, it’s essential to stay ahead of the curve and learn about the sector’s latest trends and security practices. As a popular proverb says,” Forewarned is forearmed”, so check out these 5 cybersecurity trends for 2024.
The emergence of generative AI as a problem and solution
AI is evolving at a fast pace, representing a strong component of innovative tech services and products. Nowadays, anything is possible with AI, as this revolutionary technology is used for dictation tools, predictive analytics, translator apps, and more. Although incredible, AI can also be dangerous when used for nefarious purposes. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of this technology, making their AI-powered attacks more sophisticated. These threats involve deepfake social engineering, which can be very harmful, leading to loss of income and loss of reputation and taking a toll on victims’ mental health. Automated malware is another growing concern for businesses, as malicious actors use AI to infect and steal data from a system. They do this by creating AI-generated videos which look like tutorials to Photoshop, Premiere Pro and other similar software programs.
However, the same technology that poses cybersecurity issues can also be a solution, helping detect and neutralise those threats through features like smart authentication, real-time anomaly detection and automated incident response. Cyber assault and defence will be a game of chess in 2024 – and AI will be the queen, creating advantages for anyone who plays it best, whether cyber specialists or malicious actors.
IoT cyber threats
While the Internet of Things’ impact on society has been massive, changing the way people live and work, it has also created many vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can easily exploit. For instance, despite the perks of remote working, employees can utilise equipment for sharing data in an insecure way, which can pose huge threats.
IoT devices are convenient and user-friendly, so it isn’t surprising that their popularity is only growing. With smart fridges that let you know when you need a new milk bottle and connected light bulbs that can set the mood, everything is now at your fingertips. Unfortunately, the same devices meant to make your life easier can also become a nightmare due to the lack of robust security measures. Hence, it becomes essential to mitigate the risks that IoT poses, and this can be done in several ways, such as changing default passwords, using secure networks, and updating firmware frequently.
More sophisticated phishing attacks
Phishing attacks have long been a significant digital threat, affecting individuals and businesses alike. As technology evolves, cybercriminals’ tactics become more modern, requiring increased awareness and vigilance. For instance, advanced phishing kits now enable cybercriminals to easily deceive victims into downloading malware or sharing sensitive data like account passwords or financial information. Now that digital scammers have become better at bypassing traditional phishing prevention methods, businesses must take a proactive approach and upgrade their cybersecurity plans.
You can take some strategic steps to prevent phishing, such as raising IT security awareness in your company so that your staff knows what to expect. Moreover, implementing MFA, deploying anti-phishing tools and using stronger passwords can also go a long way in combating this significant digital threat.
Less than zero trust
Zero Trust refers to a security model that has gained significant attention, offering an extra layer of protection against cybercrimes. This model assumes that each device, application and user shouldn’t be trusted, thus requiring authentication and authorization to access the network. Historically, businesses have given everyone inside their company the benefit of the doubt, and only those outside the corporate network perimeter were at fault for potential issues. However, this implicit trust in internal users has led to costly data breaches, affecting businesses’ bottom line.
This is why adopting zero-trust principles becomes essential, as it helps safeguard sensitive data, lowers the risk of data breaches, provides support for compliance auditing, and much more. As the cybercrime landscape evolves, the zero-trust model extends beyond corporations to the remote working ecosystem, IoT devices and partnered organisations. In 2024, zero trust will no longer be just a technical network security approach, but it will become more holistic and adaptive thanks to AI-powered activity monitoring and real-time authentication.
Cybersecurity regulation
Cyber threats don’t just pose risks to companies internally, they also affect economic growth and national security – and governments are becoming aware of it. As a result, new rules surrounding cybersecurity are implemented and influenced by the political and social impact that is caused by large-scale data breaches.
For instance, in the UK, companies must comply with the Product Security and Telecommunications Act by April 2024. The legislation creates a set of different security criteria that must be met by network products, including default passwords upon shipment’s prohibition. The discussions around the subject will likely remain a priority for legislators until 2024.
Staying on top of the latest cybersecurity trends to protect your business
The cybersecurity sector is dynamic, with threats evolving constantly. Hence, organisations need to stay updated on the latest threats so they don’t end up caught off guard and suffer significant consequences. As highlighted in this blog, new trends will emerge in 2024 in the cybersecurity industry, so businesses must remain alert and have upgraded and adequate security measures in place.
