BetaNews Staff

This year marks a pivotal moment in digital marketing. With Google Chrome recently initiating the phase-out of third-party cookies, impacting 1 percent of its users to start, a major shift is underway.

This change is particularly significant given that three-quarters of marketers currently use third-party cookies to design and implement their marketing campaigns. This begs the question: how will companies navigate this transition effectively? Fortunately, there are promising solutions to redefine marketing in this new era. Businesses don’t have to suffer a death by a thousand cuts in terms of the slow but steady decline in the utility of cookies. But to avoid it, there are a few steps that IT teams should take to help their organizations prepare.

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It can be a challenging proposition to navigate your first 30 days as CISO. You have the responsibility of securing an entire company on your shoulders, and you know that without robust security infrastructure and processes, the organization is exposed to external threats, service restrictions and degradation, and insider risk.

To effectively guide your organization’s security posture, tackle your first 30 days with a strategic mindset and focus on the following three key priorities: taking in information, identifying quick wins, and implementing robust processes.

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In 2017, WannaCry caused significant disruption to the UK public and private sector. The disruption highlighted vulnerabilities within corporate and government systems, most notably within the UK. It impacted hospitals, healthcare facilities and social care, causing operations and admissions to be cancelled, delayed, or postponed.

The attack exposed a lack of robust cyber security measures, failings in basic IT administration and emphasized the importance of investing in strong defenses to safeguard critical public infrastructure. It prompted a renewed focus on cyber security within the UK and initiated efforts to enhance resilience against future cyber threats.

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As we enter 2024, the data landscape is witnessing a surge of transformative changes, building on the significant advancements made in 2023. We’ve seen breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms, Large Language Models (LLMs), enhanced data analytics capabilities, and notable strides in cloud computing.

These developments have not only reshaped how organizations are using data, but also started to redefine how organizations operate and strategize. Now, as we look forward to this year, the data landscape is set to evolve further, set against the backdrop of continuous AI innovation. From the consolidation of the AI market to revolutionary changes in data management, we're entering an era where data is not just a tool or a nice-to-have, but a driving force. With another year of revolutionary change ahead of us, here are the developments that will dictate data strategy in 2024.

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Cyber awareness and Cyber Awareness Month (CAM) have faced allegations of fearmongering in the past, but this isn’t -- or shouldn’t be -- the case. At times, some vendors or individuals arguably exploit worries about cyber threats to market their products or convince people of their necessity.

But this is a delicate balance to strike. While it is true many security professionals are already struggling under the weight of their responsibilities, Cyber Awareness Month is a time for home truths. The grim reality is that cybercrime is getting worse. According to the Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023, 85 percent of organizations suffered at least one cyber-attack in the preceding twelve months, an increase from 76 percent experienced in the prior year. So, in many ways, our current approaches are failing. Does that mean Cyber Awareness Month is failing too? 

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AI is growing in popularity and this trend is only set to continue. This is supported by Gartner which states that approximately 80 percent of enterprises will have used generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) application programming interfaces (APIs) or models by 2026. However, AI is a broad and ubiquitous term, and, in many instances, it covers a range of technologies.

Nevertheless, AI presents breakthroughs in the ability to process logic differently which is attracting attention from businesses and consumers alike who are experimenting with various forms of AI today. At the same time, this technology is attracting similar attention from threat actors who are realising that it could be a weakness in a company’s security while it could also be a tool that helps companies to identify these weaknesses and address them.

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As the prevalence of natural disasters and cyberattacks increases, it becomes essential that leaders prioritize robust infrastructure. Oftentimes, communications capabilities, including contact centers and customer service support lines, are the most vulnerable during emergencies -- which is exactly when these functions become most necessary.

Well-maintained and protected infrastructure is even more important when you consider the ramifications of an outage. Organizations take 212 days on average to detect a breach and 75 more days to contain it -- that means nearly a year of interrupted operations post-attack. During this time, consumers may be unable to receive critical, even life-saving information.

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Businesses rely heavily on technology to drive operational efficiency. While this has benefits, it also brings with it challenges and risks, particularly in the realm of cybersecurity. As cyber threats continue to be a persistent concern for businesses there has been a marked surge in demand for cyber insurance as companies recognize the importance of financial protection in the face of data breaches, ransomware attacks, and other cybersecurity incidents. However, as the threat landscape evolves, so does the landscape of cyber insurance, with insurers raising the bar on their security requirements. 

While this is a concern for businesses that want to ensure that they are insured against potential security risks, there are a few considerations that can help improve their risk profile ahead of a potential breach or attack. Fundamental to this is cyber resilience within the broader framework of operational resilience.

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Generative AI has the potential to reshape entire industries and how they operate, and financial services stand out as uniquely poised for AI-driven transformation. McKinsey & Company calls generative AI the next frontier for productivity, estimating that analyzing natural language text -- a core generative AI use case -- accounts for an average of 25 percent of the time people spend in any given enterprise.

The finance industry is a data-driven industry, so it’s no surprise that finance sector firms see big potential in using generative AI to tackle use cases that require assessing enormous amounts of unstructured data, such as company due diligence, know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, sustainability research, and controversy monitoring.

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Online transactions are fraught with security concerns -- both for businesses and for consumers. Yet, even while those consumers harbor worries that their personal identifiable information could be stolen if security precautions are weak, they also have limited patience when doing business online and will abandon a website if the transaction takes too long or requires too many steps.

This creates a knotty situation for businesses: They must minimize customer frustrations while still making sure security measures are tight and requiring that users prove they are who they say they are.

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As we enter 2024, IT professionals find themselves at a pivotal moment, grappling with a trio of formidable challenges: the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), the phasing out of traditional cookies, and ongoing staffing shortages.

These developments are not merely altering the IT landscape but are also necessitating a reevaluation of strategies across businesses. In response to this dynamic environment, IT teams must pivot towards adopting scalable, AI-integrated customer data management systems.

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Cybercrime and data breaches have escalated to alarming levels, with the global estimated cost of cybercrime in the cybersecurity market reaching over $8 Trillion in 2023. Projected to rise by an additional $5.7 trillion (+69.94 percent) by 2028, the urgency for advanced endpoint security solutions has never been more apparent.

Cybercrime and data breaches have become some of the most significant threats individuals and organizations face in the modern business world. As technology continually advances, so do the methods employed by cybercriminals to exploit it. As a result, endpoint security solutions have become a vital tool for businesses and individuals seeking to protect their devices and sensitive data from harm.

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Cloud investment is central to staying competitive in modern business. Gartner estimated that global end-user cloud investment reached nearly $600 billion this year and forecasts a 20 percent increase in spending in 2024. But as investment in and reliance on the cloud increases, so must investment in cloud security.

Expanding cloud usage means an expanding attack surface for threat actors to target. Research from Vanson Bourne, commissioned by Illumio, found that nearly half (47 percent) of all security breaches now start in the cloud.

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Many leaders have been extremely aggressive about their AI strategies this year. However, despite the buzz generated by these technologies, most leaders are still scratching their heads trying to brainstorm real, practical ways to implement AI.

I’ve identified three common questions from leaders about AI for the enterprise and answered them with pragmatic guidance on the steps they can take today to make the most of these innovative technologies.

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DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) protection occupies a peculiar spot in cybersecurity. While "newer" threats like AI-enabled cybercrime and the ongoing ransomware spree take up many airwaves, DDoS is relatively stable. For many, it's a known quantity. But this is where the problem lies. DDoS has been around for so long, and companies have been mitigating against it for all this time that a knowledge gap is slowly creeping in.

Because things change, bad habits get picked up, or common misconceptions go unchallenged and evolve into full-blown myths. Companies might be ‘protecting’ themselves under false pretenses, so it pays to revisit what you know, explore what’s changed and rebuild your knowledge of the threat landscape semi-regularly. So, with that in mind, let's explore three common myths we regularly encounter in the DDoS space. 

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