With the onset of the new year, we are reviewing the most significant challenges people will face globally. Cybersecurity falls within that category. The obstacles cybersecurity practitioners face continuously change as technology advances. There are many sub-categories to these factors, such as the increasing sophistication of attackers by hackers and cyber infiltrators, the inconsistent design of the IT infrastructure, and the influence of external elements like the outbreak of COVID-19.
While companies and organizations on cybersecurity spend more and more money, it does little to eliminate the challenges which grow larger in scale. Looking at statistics, 50 percent of large-scale enterprises spend $1 million or more on annual security, with 43 percent spending $250,000 to $999,999 and just 7 percent spending under $250,000, according to Cisco. In addition, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, global spending on security awareness training for employees is running with the prediction of reaching $10 billion by 2027.
According to an old saying, the simplest solution is usually the best. So along with mounting their defenses against cyber-attacks, they should counter them concurrently.
Five of our biggest challenges are listed below.
1. Vulnerability Management
Computer experts build firewalls and safety codes to protect the system and manage vulnerabilities. Thus, having the necessary qualifications, including a Master’s in cybersecurity, can help you manage the vast amount of vulnerabilities pouring in from all directions. But first, let’s understand what exposure actually means in computing.
A cybersecurity vulnerability is any weakness within an organization’s information systems, internal controls, or system processes that cybercriminals exploit. Through these points, they are able to gain access to your system and collect data.
Vulnerability management is no longer able to cope with the changing times. Therefore, we need to find a new approach to produce satisfactory results and efficiently maintain good cyber hygiene.
There is practically no way to keep track of every vulnerability popping up, given on average. It takes 60 to 150 days for a large-scale company to patch one up. In that time, a thousand more emerge. Thus, the sheer volume is overwhelming and overburdening the entire system. Using the legacy method with the aid of a scanner that in turn reports all the vulnerabilities and assigning them to a different IT department to be remediated is incompetent.
Also read: Explaining Vulnerability Assessment – How To Evaluate The Security of Applications: Intro
2. Vendor/ Third-Party Risk
Usually, businesses depend on their third-party software or SaaS vendors for marketing and related things. If a cyber-adversary breaches the vendor or the software which contains the entirety of your data, the violation will most definitely affect you as well. There is nothing to be done once the systems are breached. More than often, the affected parties are not even aware of the fact that they are in such a precarious position. Indeed a dreary situation, all things considered.
They strike in what is called a ‘Supply Chain Attack.’ By demonstrating how the hacker could invade a vendor, slip through detection by hiding in the business’s products and attack all the customers at the same time when it is distributed.
An example of such an attack is that of Java Logging Library Log4 in December 2021. The software, which is thousands of products and services from small source projects to high-profile enterprises, contained a critical remote code execution vulnerability. The cybersecurity professionals were in a frenzy when trying to locate the vulnerability of the software to apply patches. It is a wake-up call for all the companies and the industry in general that the slightest opening can cause an entire program, along with its millions of users, to fall.
There was another incident before this as well in spring 2021 when the SolarWinds attack shed light on how exposed the customers were by showing that any vendor could be compromised at any given instance. Furthermore, the scarier part was that the malicious could enter our software through legitimate channels that we trust.
3. Failure of Endpoint Protection
According to statistics, nearly 90% of vulnerabilities affect the endpoint. In recent times, cybersecurity attacks are making business endpoints their targets.
The global society is slowly abandoning the traditional anti-virus and anti-malware tactics, favoring Endpoint Detection and Response products. However, these newer programs aren’t shining diamonds either.
It is crucial to pinpoint the weaknesses in endpoint protection to steer clear of being the target. Combining traditional endpoint protection with EDR products (layering coverage by looks) is the solution. And finally, the principal weakness is a human sitting at the keyboard and directing the codes with a manual mouse: human error and the inefficiency of the human factor compromise most of the initial attack vectors.
Also read: Top 11 Endpoint Security Solutions For Enterprise
4. Data Security
The number of data breaches forms a steep curve on the stats in the past year, affecting millions of people and hundreds of businesses and organizations. Recently, GoDaddy and T-Mobile had breaches within their systems, compromising their customers’ private data. So how do these breaches occur, especially in places with supposedly the best cybersecurity?
Data security is an institutional challenge as well as a technological complication. It’s a complex convergence of specialized tools, using multiple systems, and training employees to understand and practice responsible data handling. Finally, the organizations just have to commit in order to ensure the best result.
5. Small Businesses Are Falling Behind
It takes a significant investment to create a robust cybersecurity system, which is something small-scale businesses can seldom afford. In addition, all the cybersecurity products target high-profile companies as they pay the most.
Thus, smaller businesses become the primary targets for malware, data breaches, and any cyber threat as they are practically defenseless.
Final Words
In all, protecting your business from cybercriminals and malicious threats should be your top-most priority as a business owner. The only way to counter these mounting problems is to provide funds for cybersecurity at both large and small levels and tackle these problems head-on while building up their defenses.
Leave a comment