CYBERSECURITY FOCUS
Safe from harm The number and complexity of cybersecurity threats to businesses is constantly growing, yet while businesses appreciate the dangers, many still don’t have adequate protection and this presents opportunities for resellers.
Cybercrime is a major threat to businesses of all sizes and in all sectors and cannot be ignored: AAG found that 39% of UK businesses reported suffering a cyberattack in 2022. Of these businesses, 31% estimate they were attacked at least once a week. In addition, cybercrime cost UK businesses an average of £4,200 in 2022; when just considering medium and large businesses, it rose to £19,400. Unsurprisingly, 82% of boards or senior management in UK businesses see cybersecurity as a high priority. It needs to be as the threats are myriad, as Matt Aldridge, principal solutions consultant at OpenText Cybersecurity, explains. “OpenText Cybersecurity’s latest threat report reveals that cybercrime groups are doubling down on long-standing tactics as well as using newer techniques such as deepfakes, artificial intelligence and social engineering to exploit businesses’ vulnerabilities,” he says. “Phishing has remained the number one delivery mechanism for ransomware, with attackers refining their techniques. Phishing is also dominating the web, with HTTPS sites being increasingly used for malicious purposes. Overall, ransomware has grown and adapted, and it remains one of the most significant cyberthreats that small- to medium-sized businesses face. “The number of phishing emails we blocked last year grew to 1.14 billion, a 16.4% year- on-year increase. The use of HTTPs sites for phishing showed 55.5% year-on-year growth. Most alarming perhaps is the rise of the average cost of ransomware attacks, which peaked at a staggering £320,000 last year.” Malware threat Sarah Goodchild, senior director, channel sales EMEA at Picus Security, adds that malware also continues to be a threat. “Picus Security recently analysed 500,000 malware samples and discovered that it is evolving rapidly to become more evasive and more dangerous,” she says.
Matt Aldridge principal solutions consultant
“The latest multi-purpose malware is akin to a Swiss Army knife in terms of its versatility and usefulness to adversaries. Sophisticated malware samples are adept at evading security controls, moving laterally between devices and encrypting data. More than a third of the malware we analysed can perform over 20 tactics, techniques and procedures and this flexibility helps it adapt to different environments. “Malware developers continue to invest significant resources into researching and developing more sophisticated techniques that help them to accomplish their goals. Security teams now have more tools to help them detect, prevent and respond to threats. However, the pace of change means it remains challenging for security teams to ensure that their defences are optimised against the latest attack techniques. Adversaries continue to raise their game and defenders must too.” Martin Jartelius, CSO at Outpost24, adds that there is also an increase in credential stealing malware. “As many organisations turn to the internet to conduct business and, in turn, collect and store more data digitally, this is especially worrying,” he says. “In recent years, the number of Initial Access Brokers skyrocketed, malware prices have increased, and ransomware groups have multiplied. Research conducted by our KrakenLabs into the ecosystem of credential threat found a
opentext.com
Sarah Goodchild senior director, channel sales EMEA
picussecurity.com
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