By now, RSI knows everyone is exhausted of hearing about the importance of cyber security within the IT industry. Unfortunately, we live in a time where these incidents continue to develop and expand into what we do every day.
A general web search for breaches that occurred within May 2022 alone, resulted in 77 major security incidents being reported that contained a combined 49.8 million records pertaining to those incidents. Companies like Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations reported an unprecedented year thus far revealing nearly 24,000 security incidents. Of that number, over 5,000 were confirmed breaches. An estimated 4 out of 5 of those breaches involved an external actor rather than an internal actor. Of the confirmed breaches, 82% of them consisted of human error. Within 2022 alone, social engineering contributed to 25% of reported breaches and while all breaches are supposed to be reported, not all are.
So how can RSI prevent, stop, or even slow these attacks? Some general strategies consist of having quality leadership and leaders on your team, constant visibility and improvement, controlled access points, and collaborative efforts. With strong leadership it is important those leaders continue to adapt to new work dynamics. Security experts are put under more pressure within the cybersecurity environment. Having inefficient security operations leave companies highly vulnerable. The IT and cybersecurity industry consists of a competitive landscape where companies can find it challenging to hold onto talented employees. Therefore, it is important to maintain a strong and knowledgeable leadership core. It is equally important to provide and develop internal systems and protocols to keep up with the constantly evolving cyberattacks.
To continue to improve, companies need to understand how they can make themselves less of a target. Cybersecurity isn’t a one-and-done exercise. Companies need to realize that they need to continue to expand and develop their strategic cyber defense. For the individuals that are responsible, if those security experts don’t have a full view of their assets, they cannot protect them. Additionally, a work-from-anywhere culture has resulted in less visibility, control, and knowledge of abnormal user behaviors over the past couple of years.
Controlling access is another important aspect of cyber security. No matter what the threat, hackers need access to resources. One of the most used methods of attacks is compromised credentials, contributing to over 60% of breaches. Companies can and should monitor user accounts and behavior to help defend against unauthorized access.
Finally, collaborative efforts relate to everyone within an organization contributing to the efforts of preventing and mitigating cyberattacks. We live in a time where everything we click on needs and should be carefully thought about before doing so. Cybercriminals have recently demonstrated how well coordinated they can be. That’s why this year more than previous, will be a test of how well everyone can work together, since security teams and their users need to be equally as coordinated with their defense efforts. Luckily, governments have become more involved in protecting public and private organizations. However, despite reliable backups and a means to bring your organization back online, many breaches have pivoted to leaking the breached data to places like the dark web for other criminals to expose the data in various ways. That’s why it is important to continue to be vigilant in each of our efforts and to continue to expand our knowledge of growing cyberthreats.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business.
