Ransomware costs jump 17 percent though insurance claims fall
A new report from risk solutions company Resilience shows in the first half of 2025, the average cost of an individual ransomware attack rose by 17 percent, while the volume of incurred claims across Resilience's portfolio dropped by 53 percent, highlighting the persistent and destructive threat of financially motivated cybercrime.
Ransomware accounted for almost all (91 percent) of incurred losses, while financially motivated social engineering, especially via tailored attacks bolstered by AI-powered phishing content, fueled 88 percent.
Taking a holistic approach to human risk management
We tend to think of cybersecurity as being a technology problem, but in fact it’s often about humans. Attackers exploit our weaknesses with social engineering, phishing and other attacks designed to trick us into giving up valuable information.
A new whitepaper released today by KnowBe4 looks at the core principles of a modern human risk management (HRM) approach and how organizations can apply the framework to strengthen security culture and drive measurable change in employee behavior.
Software engineers need new skills in the age of AI
AI is transforming software engineering, changing what software engineers do and the skills they need to succeed. A new survey from Uplevel, of over 100 senior engineering leaders at mid-to-large technology companies, looks at what they believe will be the most important skills for their teams.
It finds that validation of AI outputs and quality assurance (QA) is valued highest, cited by 66 percent of leaders, followed by performance monitoring and optimization (39 percent), and system architecture and integration skills (34 percent)
Poor data quality is the biggest barrier to AI in insurance
Almost three-quarters of insurance underwriters say fragmented, siloed, and unstructured data -- not technology -- is the main barrier to AI transformation.
New research carried out by Reuters for technology transformation specialist CI&T shows that data fragmentation, unstructured formats, and siloed systems are the real roadblocks to delivering faster, more accurate underwriting and pricing.
Only 37 percent of recruiters prepared for AI’s impact on hiring
A new survey of 1,000 US HR and recruiting leaders shows teams are struggling to verify skills, assess culture fit, and find qualified candidates and that only 37 percent are prepared for an AI-driven future
The study from TestGorilla finds 58 percent struggle to verify skills on resumes, 47 percent find it difficult to identify candidates aligned with the company culture, and 43 percent cite a lack of skilled candidates in the market.
The challenge of syncing virtual economies across platforms [Q&A]
As people increasingly demand seamless experiences across platforms, developers face growing complexity in managing unified virtual economies.
In the games sector in particular companies need to leverage distributed architecture, virtual currencies, and real-time inventory reconciliation to ensure consistent user experiences and secure transaction flows.
Poor data quality is hindering AI adoption
A new report reveals that although 84 percent of IT leaders say a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is essential to driving decision-making and operations, a majority feel their current systems lack the data quality, accuracy and completeness they need, hindering the ability to maximize enterprise AI implementations.
The study from Device42 polled IT leaders across industries including finance, healthcare, government, and technology, and finds that over 50 percent of respondents use CMDBs, monitoring tools, or manual discovery processes, to gain insights about their infrastructure, yet 58 percent report a lack of confidence in their visibility.
Brits warned of scams ahead of emergency alert test
This Sunday, September 7th, the UK will test its emergency alert system, sending a message that will cause 4G and 5G mobile phones and tablets to emit a loud siren sound and vibrate for about 10 seconds.
But Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator, is warning that fraudsters are likely to exploit the upcoming government test, particularly targeting elderly and vulnerable people who may be confused by the alerts.
Rethinking AppSec for the AI era [Q&A]
The application security landscape has always been a complex one and can lead to teams spending too much time hunting down vulnerabilities. With AI becoming more popular there are even greater risks to consider.
We spoke to Yossi Pik, co-founder and CTO at Backslash Security, to discuss how AppSec needs to adapt to the greater use of AI.
New enterprise browser aimed at securing BYOD and third-party devices
Check Point is launching a new Enterprise Browser, extending zero trust security to unmanaged devices like BYOD, contractors, and third-party partners.
The new feature, available to Check Point Harmony SASE customers from today, delivers full visibility, granular policy enforcement, and compliance-ready data protection without persistent agents or endpoint ownership.
Insider breaches hit 61 percent of enterprises
A new study sponsored by OPSWAT, a specialist in critical infrastructure protection, reveals that organizations face escalating risks from insider activity, legacy tools, and the growing complexity of artificial intelligence (AI).
Based on research carried out by the Ponemon Institute, the report finds that in the past two years, 61 percent of organizations have suffered file-related breaches caused by negligent or malicious insiders, at an average cost of $2.7 million per incident.
How AI agents are reshaping the threat landscape
The agentic AI ecosystem, powered by large language models (LLMs), is creating a new class of cybersecurity risks according to a new report.
The study from Radware finds AI agents can act autonomously, access tools and private resources, and interoperate between one another. As enterprises turn to AI agents, there is a need to govern and secure this new emerging layer of digital infrastructure.
Proactive agents bring AI to data analysis teams
Data insights platform WisdomAI is launching a new Proactive Agents feature that aims to supplement data analysis teams with the ability to proactively learn, monitor metrics, detect anomalies, prepare analysis, and execute decisions, allowing humans to focus on strategy and judgment.
“Data analysts have long been the gatekeepers to insights -- but they’re hard to scale, and no company can hire unlimited analysts,” says Soham Mazumdar, CEO and co-founder of WisdomAI. “Proactive Agents change that. They act as AI teammates that scale your data team’s capacity, increase productivity across the organization, and democratize access to analyst-grade work. Every employee can now benefit from the kind of monitoring and analysis that used to require dedicated headcount.”
Enterprises left dangerously exposed by identity protection ‘maturity myth’
New research from Osterman and Silverfort reveals that although nearly 70 percent of organizations believe their identity defenses are ‘mature’ there is a worrying gap between perception and reality.
This comes against a rising tide of identity threats, 72.1 percent of identity leaders report that the threat level of identity-related attacks has increased or remained unchanged in the past year. The most significant jumps include AI-powered attacks, ransomware-based attacks, and social engineering of desk staff to reset credentials or MFA factors (up 14.3 percent).
Windows 10 support costs could top $7 billion
With support for Windows 10 due to end on October 14th, it’s estimated that there will still be over 120 million PCs running the OS still in use by the deadline.
New analysis from Nexthink warns that with the first year of extended support costing $61 per device, organizations could collectively be facing a multi-billion dollar bill.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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