Economic shocks & swarms of cyber criminals

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

In times of high inflation, businesses and consumers aren’t the only ones feeling adverse effects. During periods of economic uncertainty, even cyber criminals feel the pinch. For instance, cryptocurrencies –which are critical in facilitating ransomware payments– have dropped in value.

As a result, cyber criminals are becoming more brazen in their efforts, driving a significant increase in the frequency and severity of financially motivated cyber crime. Multi-billion dollar companies are seeing vexing ransomware demands, major disruptions and leaked data.

“As cyberattacks continue to rise, I anticipate more organizations will be doubling down on frontline prevention and detection technologies to stay secure and will consolidate cybersecurity tools where possible,” says Andrew Hollister, CISO at LogRhythm.

To combat new cyber turbulence, organizations need to focus on a comprehensive cyber security strategy that emphasizes front-line prevention and detection technologies.

Complete protection

As it currently stands, many organizations lack complete cyber security protection. Instead, they rely on outdated or non-interoperable tools that only enable security professionals to become aware of issues after a significant breach has occurred; after the cyber criminals have disappeared with valuable data or other assets.

In battling a high volume of complex cyber attacks, organizations should consider a consolidation strategy, if one has not been adopted already. A consolidated cyber security architecture offers a multi-layered means of securing many types of attack surfaces; networks, cloud, endpoints, mobile and IoT.

Why a consolidated approach

  • A consolidated approach to cyber security translates to fewer tools for already over-burdened teams to learn, maintain and context-switch between.
  • It resolves the challenge of contending with non-interoperable point solutions.
  • It can simplify processes and increase visibility.
  • It provides complete threat prevention, sealing gaps and enabling automatic threat intelligence sharing across all security environments.
  • A consolidated approach to cyber security can be more cost-effective from a personnel perspective.
  • It enables you to correlate seemingly benign events with hidden cyber attacks.
  • Ultimately, a consolidated cyber security architecture advances the overall security posture of an enterprise.

Uncertainty and security

Uncertainty about the future, such as the kind that organizations are currently experiencing, means that it’s tough to make forward-looking decisions. Faced with mounting uncertainty, leaders may decide to wait until a period of greater certainty in order to make critical decisions, such as those surrounding cyber security investments. However, delays in decisions surrounding cyber security can quickly undermine a business.

Further thoughts

With a recession on the horizon, cyber attackers are liable to become more brazen than ever before. They know that leaders are looking to limit cyber security spend and to maximize the value of existing technologies.

In getting the most out of investments, organizations should consider harnessing the potential of a consolidated cyber security solution, which can also keep the most advanced cyber criminals at bay.

With the right cyber security strategy, there shouldn’t be a tradeoff between reducing spend and implementing robust cyber security.

For more information about economic uncertainty and cyber security, please see CyberTalk.org’s past coverage. Lastly, to receive more cutting-edge cyber security news, best practices and analyses, please sign up for the CyberTalk.org newsletter.

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