Cyber Security Trends 2024

The cost of Cyber Attacks on the global economy for 2023 is expected to exceed £8.4 trillion, and is growing each year. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has evolved massively over the last few years and has had benefits for both hackers and the development of defence software.

Many schools and businesses believe that they are already covered with Cyber Security through their existing IT Provider - but you will be shocked to know that this isn’t usually the case unless you have signed up to a Cyber Security service. Ask us today about our Cyber Security packages.

Cyber Security should be a priority of every organisation, and in this blog post we look at the main Cyber Security trends for 2023 and into the next year.

Ransomware

Ransomware is still a number one risk to organisations, and the tact has changed slightly over the last year. Hackers traditionally would encrypt the data (convert it into code so that it is inaccessible) and request a ransom fee to release it, but now they are also stealing the data and threatening to expose it in exchange for money. Hackers also are taking it one step further by threatening to contact customers whose data has been affected by the breach.

A new tactic which appeared in the news over the summer is that hackers will target software used by multiple organisations in order to compromise the data of several companies at once, stealing the data of thousands of employees or customers. An example of this is the recent hacking of MOVEit - a file transfer software owned by Progress Software and used by high profile companies such as BBC, Boots, and British Airways. Although Progress Software were quick to detect the breach and create a security patch, the hackers had already got hold of staff’s personal information such as bank details, birth dates, national insurance numbers and addresses. Thousands of companies that use MOVEit could still be vulnerable to the attack if they have not downloaded the latest security patch.

Our Cyber Security packages include Threat & Intrusion prevention, and 24/7 monitoring to shield your data, and our Disaster Recovery Solutions will ensure that your organisation is protected from data loss.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS)

There has been a recent increase in scale of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. DDoS attacks are when a hacker uses multiple bots hosted by hacked devices to overload a server or system rendering it inaccessible. In 2023 we saw record breaking DDoS attacks that targeted large companies such as Google and Cloudflare. The companies successfully countered the threats, and ensured services continued as normal for customers. But the scale of the attacks was unprecedented - with the attack on Google peaking at 398 million requests per second.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is certainly the main one to look out for over the next year. Hackers are starting to explore the endless possibilities of Artificial Intelligence - speeding up the process of developing Malware, automated password-guessing and impersonating users are just a few of the features that hackers are using to their advantage. However, AI has advantages to defence as well by allowing software companies to quickly detect and develop security patches, and to expose possible vulnerabilities.

Working from home

With the massive increase in working from home over the past few years, this has taken away the control that organisations have over the security of devices when outside of the network. Ensuring that you have a remote cyber security service in place will protect your network from the vulnerabilities exposed by staff working from home. Speak to us today about our Cyber Security packages and individual services.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Business Email Compromise is still a high threat to organisations of all sizes and across all sectors. Hackers are now using automated techniques to access email accounts and send phishing emails to unsuspecting colleagues or customers, with the goal of stealing money or revealing sensitive information. Our Cyber Security packages include Email Security - speak to us today to protect your business and staff from phishing and spoofing attacks. View our Cyber Security (link) page to find out more about our packages.

Application Programming Interface (API) attacks

APIs are now a security weakness to watch. An API is an Application Programming Interface, which is a type of software that allows two applications to talk to each other. Many organisations use APIs in their websites or even unknowingly in their third party software. Hackers have realised that they can exploit vulnerabilities within APIs to access databases using scraping attacks.

Multi-factor Authentication (MfA)

The introduction of Multi-Factor Authentication was a revolutionary approach that has redefined the way we protect ourselves online. Unfortunately hackers have now realised that they can exploit this by sending false verification codes to unsuspecting users in order to gain access to their accounts. It is important to provide Cyber Security training to your staff to ensure that they are vigilant to fake verification.

How can Trailblaze IT help?

Trailblaze IT offer a selection of robust Cyber Security packages to protect your organisation from the latest threats posed by hackers and malware.

All our Cyber Security Packages include the below services as standard: