Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 04 | Page 44

business ‘‘ TALKING //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// lead to a significant loss of data along with reputational damage, whether that be ransomware, malware, denial-of-service- attacks or phishing. For instance, the Cisco 2018 Annual Cybersecurity Report reveals the extent to which security threats are becoming more elaborate. The report tells us how malware sophistication is increasing as adversaries evade detection through encryption. It finds that security professionals will increasingly leverage tools that use AI and machine learning to reduce the amount of time cybercriminals have to operate. To reduce adversaries’ time to operate, security professionals said they will increasingly leverage and spend more on tools that use AI and machine learning. And because of the expanded volume of encrypted web traffic, it’s harder than ever to identify and monitor potential threats. According to Cisco, more than half of all cyberattacks have resulted in financial damages of more than US$500,000 with attacks on supply chains increasingly common and harmful. The report issues the warning that such attacks can persist for several months or even years. It states: “Defenders should be aware of the potential risk of using software or hardware from organisations that do not appear to have a responsible security posture.” Worryingly, two of the major attacks last year (Nyetya and Ccleaner) infected users by attacking trusted software. The threat landscape is changing all the time One of the other major changes is that security professionals are increasingly putting their trust in behavioural analytics to locate malicious actors on the networks. According to Cisco, 92% of security professionals said behaviour analytics tools work well. Two-thirds of the healthcare sector, followed by financial services, found behaviour analytics to work extremely well to identify malicious actors. Another notable change is the growth of cloud with attackers taking advantage of 44 INTELLIGENTCIO a lack of security. The report finds that while the cloud offers better data security, the downside is that attackers are taking advantage of the fact that security teams are having difficulty defending evolving and quickly expanding cloud environments. The true cost of cybercrime A global cybersecurity report has revealed that cybercrime takes a near US$600 billion toll on the global economy. McAfee, in partnership with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has released the Economic Impact of Cybercrime – No Slowing Down report. “ ACCORDING TO CISCO, MORE THAN HALF OF ALL CYBERATTACKS HAVE RESULTED IN FINANCIAL DAMAGES OF MORE THAN US$500,000. This concludes that cybercrime now costs businesses close to US$600 billion a year. To put this in context, this is up from global losses of US$445 billion in 2014. The report attributes the growth over three years to cybercriminals quickly adopting new technologies, the ease of engaging in cybercrime (including an expanding number of cybercrime centres) and the growing financial sophistication of top-tier cybercriminals. The report finds that banks remain the favourite target of cybercriminals and claims nation states are the most dangerous source of cybercrime, with Russia, North Korea and Iran the most active in hacking financial institutions. New products are constantly emerging The good news is there are a multitude of security products out there offering new ways to protect your systems and Intelligent CISO will help guide you through them. For instance, Sophos has recently announced Sophos Home Premium with ransomware protection. This features advanced anti-ransomware capabilities that can quickly detect previously unknown ransomware. This is a product that goes beyond the traditional antivirus features as it delivers proactive, real-time protection for consumers from the latest malicious software and hacking attempts and includes privacy protection features. Sophos Home Premium is capable of protecting both PCs and Macs and can enable the management of up to 10 other computers all from one central dashboard. n www.intelligentcio.com