Just as thieves that target physical business premises seem to keep learning new ways to get their hands on what doesn’t belong to them, so cybercriminals keep on getting smarter. Staying on top of your cybersecurity means watching new developments and constantly adopting new strategies to foil these devious masterminds. If you’re wondering what’s new in cybersecurity watch out for these trends.
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Data Security Posture Management (DSPM)
For years, your business has been storing its information in the cloud. You may be security-smart now, but your “old” data could be at risk – even supposing you know just where and how it was stored. Data Security Posture Management is an ongoing analysis that seeks out at-risk data. Once found, vulnerabilities can be addressed by DevSecOps, securing it without impeding operations. It’s the ideal way to close the door to hackers while allowing your operations personnel to continue with business as usual.
Artificial Intelligence: A Double-Edged Sword
Leveraging AI to work for you opens a world of opportunities for your business. From “teaching” tech to do routine tasks for you to deploying it in the construction of automated security systems that verify user credentials and identify threats, it seems the sky’s the limit. But cybercrime is a business too, and tech-savvy hackers have put their AI to work too. In the duel between you AI and theirs, you want to come out on top. At the very least, you need instant alarm bells to go off if there is a data breach.
Mobile Phone Security is Crucial
Your mobile is your buddy. It’s like having a highly portable computer that can tap into business resources at the touch of a button. For many, however, the smartphone is the latest security vulnerability to be targeted by bad actors looking for sensitive information that they can use to their advantage. Don’t overlook mobile phones when considering cybersecurity. It could be a fatal error.
Security-Conscious Users are More Important than Ever
You hire people for their abilities, and these might not include cybersecurity awareness. But if they aren’t implementing basic security measures, or fail to understand why they’re so important, they could be placing your organization at risk. Security training and refresher courses help them to help you. Knowing the “why” and the “how” brings home the realization that they are co-responsible for maintaining your online security and should closely follow the correct procedures.
5G Networks: a Hacker’s Playground?
Securing 5-G hardware and software is a relatively new consideration. With business using IoT for a plethora of reasons, multiple devices are communicating with your network. Both the devices and the software they use are worthy of scrutiny. Even Google Chrome was caught napping with the introduction of 5-G and its attendant new threats. Is your 5-G usage safe from network attacks? If you aren’t sure, prioritize finding out!
Will You be Held to Ransom? Wannacry Was Just the Start
Ransomware has advanced by leaps and bounds since Wannacry and its infamous attack on the UK’s healthcare system. You’re relying on software to keep your business running. What if someone takes over that software, rendering it unusable unless you pay a ransom? Prevention is better than being faced with the choice between giving in to criminals and having your business rendered inoperable.
Making Multi Factor Authentication Tougher for Hackers
By now, we all understand multi factor authentication (MFA). To log in, or to perform sensitive activities, you have to show it’s really you by responding to a notification, usually on your phone. With Microsoft warning users to move away from phone-based authentication as long ago as 2020, the need to follow this advice is more pressing than ever. Application-based multi factor authentication provides a safer alternative, and we can expect to find increasingly rigorous MFA being implemented across applications and industries.
Be On the Alert for Socially Engineered Hacks
From the high tech to the old-fashioned con with a new twist, “social engineering” hacks keep getting more sophisticated. You’ll probably have seen warnings from your bank about the importance of not sharing information with people seeming to have bona-fide reasons for wanting it. Expect these con-people to come up with new contexts – and new reasons – why you should share your passwords or authenticate fraudulent access to your financial or data assets.
Always One Step Ahead
If you’re in charge of the average mid-sized or small business, you might think that none of this applies to you. Surely cybercriminals will go for bigger players than you are? The truth is that if they find a method that works for them, they’ll go for the “easy meat.” This could be you! Work to remain one step ahead of cybercriminals and show them that you’re not as “easy” as they may have thought you to be.
Also Read: Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Business And Yourself
