Risk Management articles

AI has exploded in the last two years, both in public adoption and in company valuations. So far in 2024, the AI sector has the highest valuations of any sector, even beating fintech, one of the most innovative and investment-heavy sectors around. The first six months of 2024 saw 13 new unicorns—a company valued at $1 billion or more—in the AI sector. New generative AI (gen AI) tools have improved the mainstream visibility of AI. Tools such as ChatGPT and […]

What if we all adopted a cybersecurity culture anchored in value and quality, instead of a race-to-the-bottom predicated on cheapness and quantity?

Some cybercriminals don’t probe your network to unleash a ransomware attack. Some of them just want login secrets to sell on for the next wave of cybercriminality.

Vulnerability management is an essential element of every cybersecurity plan. It involves the ongoing monitoring of a company’s digital footprint to find and fix any vulnerabilities in devices, systems, and applications that bad actors could exploit. It decreases a company’s risk exposure and is a proactive way of ensuring threat actors can’t gain access to a company’s private data. It’s also a huge undertaking. Many applications, including those that are cloud-based, that companies use need to be checked and patched […]

All the cybersecurity experts and vendors in the world failed to stop the SolarWinds attack. It’s often the fluency and completeness of how you respond to the news that really matters…

The manufacturing sector has suffered the highest percentage of cyberattacks of any sector for three years in a row, according to IBM’s latest X-Force Threat Intelligence Report. Of the top 10 attacked sectors, manufacturing suffered 25.7% of all attacks, followed by finance and insurance at 18.2%. The highest “action on objective”—meaning “the cyber attacker’s end goal”—was malware. Ransomware represented 17% of actions on objective. The same report reveals that 85% of attacks on critical infrastructure could have been prevented with […]

The financial services industry has historically been one of the most targeted industries for cyberattacks, and it’s not difficult to imagine why. Roughly 95% of attacks are financially motivated, and hackers are going directly to the source by targeting the financial services sector. Not only do these financial institutions have direct access to cash, they also tend to be high-revenue businesses that can’t afford to be disrupted or take a reputational hit, so they’re more likely to pay a ransom.  […]

Here’s a gentle, objective, and not-too-technical retrospective. Are you sitting comfortably?

The average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million — a 15% increase over three years, marking yet another year in which the average cost has risen significantly. Yet, costs can balloon even higher. Just recently, Change Healthcare had to shell out billions after its breach earlier this year. With the devastatingly high costs of cyberattacks, acting only after you’ve been compromised is a good way to incur some heavy payments or, in some cases, even go […]

As the famous saying goes, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Employees are a major attack vector for threat actors targeting organizations. Recent research by Stanford University confirms this, revealing that 88% of all data breaches are caused by human error. These human errors might be as simple as sending an email to an incorrect address or leaving a database publicly viewable; but they can also be more involved, as when employees become victims of targeted phishing campaigns. Let’s detail how employees might be increasing risk for organizations and what organizations […]

When you come across a threat that seems mundane at first glance, is it OK to let AI try to mop it up on its own?

Banks with safe deposit vaults don’t set them up so that every box gets the same key. But when it comes to online accounts, we’re not always so careful…

HTTPS needed at least two decades to take hold, for a bunch of curious and sometimes contradictory reasons. Join Paul Ducklin for Part 2 of this peculiar but educational tale…