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lead to a significant loss of data along with
reputational damage, whether that be
ransomware, malware, denial-of-service-
attacks or phishing.
For instance, the Cisco 2018 Annual
Cybersecurity Report reveals the extent to
which security threats are becoming more
elaborate. The report tells us how malware
sophistication is increasing as adversaries
evade detection through encryption. It finds
that security professionals will increasingly
leverage tools that use AI and machine
learning to reduce the amount of time
cybercriminals have to operate.
To reduce adversaries’ time to operate,
security professionals said they will
increasingly leverage and spend more on
tools that use AI and machine learning.
And because of the expanded volume of
encrypted web traffic it’s harder than ever to
identify and monitor potential threats.
According to Cisco, more than half of all
cyberattacks have resulted in financial
damages of more than US$500,000 with
attacks on supply chains increasingly
common and harmful. The report issues the
warning that such attacks can persist for
several months or even years.
It states: “Defenders should be aware of the
potential risk of using software or hardware
from organisations that do not appear to
have a responsible security posture.”
Worryingly, two of the major attacks last
year (Nyetya and Ccleaner) infected users by
attacking trusted software.
The threat landscape is changing
all the time
One of the other major changes is that
security professionals are increasingly
putting their trust in behavioural analytics to
locate malicious actors on the networks.
According to Cisco, 92% of security
professionals said behaviour analytics tools
work well. Two-thirds of the healthcare
sector, followed by financial services, found
behaviour analytics to work extremely well to
identify malicious actors.
Another notable change is the growth of
cloud with attackers taking advantage of
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a lack of security. The report finds that,
while the cloud offers better data security,
the downside is that attackers are taking
advantage of the fact that security teams
are having difficulty defending evolving and
quickly expanding cloud environments.
The true cost of cybercrime
A global cybersecurity report has revealed
that cybercrime takes a near US$600 billion
toll on the global economy.
McAfee, in partnership with the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),
has released the Economic Impact of
Cybercrime – No Slowing Down report.
“
ACCORDING TO
CISCO MORE THAN
HALF OF ALL
CYBERATTACKS
HAVE RESULTED
IN FINANCIAL
DAMAGES OF
MORE THAN
US$500,000.
This concludes that cybercrime now costs
businesses close to US$600 billion a year.
To put this in context, this is up from global
losses of US$445 billion in 2014.
The report attributes the growth over three
years to cybercriminals quickly adopting
new technologies, the ease of engaging
in cybercrime (including an expanding
number of cybercrime centres) and the
growing financial sophistication of top-tier
cybercriminals. The report finds that banks
remain the favourite target of cybercriminals
and claims nation states are the most
dangerous source of cybercrime, with Russia,
North Korea and Iran the most active in
hacking financial institutions.
New products are
constantly emerging
The good news is there are a multitude of
security products out there offering new
ways to protect your systems and Intelligent
CISO will help guide you through them.
For instance, Sophos has recently
announced Sophos Home Premium with
ransomware protection. This features
advanced anti-ransomware capabilities
that can quickly detect previously unknown
ransomware. This is a product that goes
beyond the traditional antivirus features as
it delivers proactive, real-time protection
for consumers from the latest malicious
software and hacking attempts and
includes privacy protection features.
Sophos Home Premium is capable of
protecting both PCs and Macs and can
enable the management of up to 10 other
computers all from one central dashboard. n
www.intelligentcio.com