BetaNews Staff

The recent cyberattack on TOMRA, a leading recycling entity and crucial cog in the wider manufacturing supply chain, underscores the escalating threat of cybercrime in the manufacturing sector. On July 16, TOMRA's data systems were extensively compromised, leading to significant operational disruptions. The attack's impact varied across the company's infrastructure, with systems taken offline and machines of different generations affected differently.

Manufacturers are at the heart of our global economy. If they are unable to build, ship, or invoice their goods due to a cyberattack, the potential losses can be catastrophic. At the same time, manufacturers are grappling with two distinct cybersecurity issues: updating security for legacy equipment that is vulnerable to lateral movement and securing the migration to Industrial IoT or Industry 4.0.

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Last year, 85 percent of organizations were hit by at least one ransomware attack, according to the  Veeam Data Protection Trends Report 2023. With almost all organizations suffering these attacks, it’s clear that the problem is not only widespread but almost inevitable these days. Though this might sound daunting, it’s by acknowledging this fact that we can manage this ever-present threat. So, let’s look at what solutions organizations can utilize to be able to live alongside ransomware.

It’s clear that ransomware attacks are a very real and present threat -- we see this every day, whether we’re watching the national news or sitting in the boardroom. Considering the ubiquity of these attacks, organizations need to be aware that a ransomware attack is no longer a case of ‘if’ you’ll be the target of an attack but ‘how often.’ While a vast number of organizations experienced at least one attack last year, the Veeam Data Protection Trends Report also showed that just under half (48 percent) suffered two or three attacks. This can feel like an overwhelming prospect for an organization of any size, and the natural consequence is that many turn to cyber insurance in search of some peace of mind.

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The countdown is on. Following orders by The White House, civilian government agencies have a little over a year to establish and implement zero trust cybersecurity. The threat environment is evolving too quickly, the government notes, to rely on outdated defenses.

And the public sector is already heeding the cybersecurity call. Roughly two-thirds of American government agencies are confident of meeting the zero trust requirement by the deadline of September 2024.

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Both aspects of a list of cloud computing costs and benefits could be summed up with just two words: "Lots, potentially."

While hosting your application in the cloud does come with a tangible price tag, leveraging the power of the cloud can have a profound positive impact on your business. Fortunately, there are many ways in which cloud computing reduces costs. With careful planning, most companies, especially start-ups and small businesses, can scale their operations and continue building products much faster and more cost-effectively than with on premises hosting.

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In the race towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, organizations are embracing technologies that enhance connectivity and streamline processes. While rapid digitalization has helped businesses thrive and stay afloat during a turbulent last few years, it has also opened the door to increased vulnerabilities that malicious actors can exploit.

This increased exposure comes at a time when cybersecurity threats worldwide continue to increase at an alarming rate. According to the latest Blackberry Global Threat Intelligence Report, the number of unique attacks using new malware samples skyrocketed by 50 percent from December 2022 to February 2023, with up to 12 attacks per-minute observed. In the UK, where cybersecurity has been identified as a Tier 1 threat alongside terrorism, war and natural disasters, 32 percent of businesses have reported a breach or attack during the last 12 months.

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Cyber threats are rapidly changing. And businesses need security solutions that can keep up. With traditional cybersecurity solutions, APIs and applications that are accessible to the public are often left vulnerable -- exposed to hackers.

Web Application and API Protection (or WAAP), on the other hand, uses machine learning and automation to close the gap in security that old tools have left behind. It protects the company from versatile cyber attacks that exploit flaws within applications. What are some of the common kinds of cyber threats that the WAAP solution can help you prevent?

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Increasing customer loyalty in today’s difficult economic times might seem impossible, but the rewards are well worth the extra effort and commitment. According to Forbes, customer-centric companies are 60 percent more profitable than companies that don't focus on their customers. This statistic on its own is probably enough to bring customer satisfaction and retention to the forefront of most C-suite agendas, if it wasn’t a priority already. However, there’s much more value that happy customers can bring to a business than profit alone.

By creating an engaged customer community, companies can also become more innovative and competitive, speed up new product development, and grow their customer base through referrals. Building such a community requires planning and patience, and is a balancing act between efficiency and resources. Its success relies on defining the best communication channels, at the right cost, to connect with customers.

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With the influx of next-gen technologies like generative AI coupled with the rapid proliferation of interactive platforms and digital media, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to protect minors from harmful and explicit content. The sheer volume of information and digital functions today makes it extremely difficult to ensure children and young adults are only consuming age-appropriate content.

Regulating this colossal mass of internet content is a herculean task, which is often deemed impossible. Rather, the most effective and simple solution for creating a safe online landscape is age verification.

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As generative AI tools continue to expand, new doors are being opened for fraudsters to exploit weaknesses. Have you experimented with generative AI tools like ChatGPT yet? From beating writer’s block to composing ad copy, creating travel itineraries, and kickstarting code snippets, there’s something for everyone. Unfortunately, "everyone" includes criminals.

Cybercriminals are early adopters. If there’s a shiny new technology to try, you can bet that crooks will explore how to use it to commit crimes. The earlier they can exploit this technology, the better -- this will give them a head start on defenses being put in place to block their nefarious activities. If tech helps boost the scale or sophistication of criminal attacks, it’s extra attractive. It’s no wonder cybercriminals have been loving tools like ChatGPT.

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Businesses face increasing hurdles when protecting sensitive data in today's complex digital, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. The truth is that historically, data security has been the core challenge that enterprises have been aiming to tackle given the fact that data breaches have become increasingly common as attackers deploy more sophisticated techniques to cause extensive damage to companies, including monetary losses, reputational harm, and legal penalties.

In this context, deep and proactive data insights are required -- knowing where sensitive data resides or who has access to it is no longer a ‘nice-to-have,’ but a must. However, steps adopted to mitigate these challenges still have a lot to do with data security as a silo, while not necessarily as part of a broader understanding of how data is being used or how it needs to adhere to regulations across the entire organization, which usually comes as an afterthought.

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Data volumes are simultaneously exploding and migrating, making it difficult for businesses and their CIOs to both monitor and secure across their environments. With so many moving parts in the cloud, it can often run away with businesses because as it expands to handle the data that it’s given, so does its cost. This is both a blessing and a curse, as flexibility is a vital attribute of a successful business, but it means that unanticipated cloud costs are common and hard to track.

Anomalous, unexpected costs can crush businesses’ confidence in their budgets and forecasts, impact their burn rate and make it difficult to understand their wider spending patterns. Yet, despite this, many wait until their bill arrives before reacting. To avoid these unpleasant surprises, which can be caused by a repository error, crypto mining incident or simply because servers have been spun up and forgotten about, businesses can turn to Anomaly Detection tools with great success.

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It’s no secret that Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about their digital identities.

Take the recent case in Louisiana, where a whopping 6 million public records were exposed as part of a global attack on third-party file transfer app MOVEit. The attack made users more wary of trusting their data to often-obscure third parties. A recent survey, conducted across 1,000 U.S. consumers by Thales found that 44 percent are afraid their identity will be stolen in a cyberattack, and a quarter have no confidence in the protection of their personal data.

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In today's fast-paced and 24-hour world, achieving a healthy work-life balance has become increasingly challenging for professionals across various industries. However, it is particularly crucial for individuals starting their careers in the mainframe technology field. Maintaining a good work-life balance is vital for new entrants in the mainframe industry, but equally important is the need to put robust support systems in place for new starters.

According to research from the mental wellbeing platform Yerbo, 40 percent of IT professionals are at high risk of burnout. Success in IT is often viewed through the prism of a ‘hustle culture’ that prizes long hours and an always-on mentality as the hallmarks of success. That is particularly true for the mainframe, given its criticality within businesses. In a field dominated by experts with decades of experience, new entrants can feel pressured to constantly go above and beyond, abandoning any work-life balance and striving to meet the standards of their more experienced peers. Unfortunately, this mindset can be detrimental to the well-being and productivity of new professionals entering the field.

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In today’s uncertain economic environment, understandably every purchase decision needs to be thoroughly analyzed and the cost to the business clearly understood. With so many organizations migrating to the cloud, it is important to understand not only the cost of migrating systems but also the longer-term costs. 

IT managers must understand the main business driver(s) for moving their organization to the cloud, and those drivers need to be reconciled with business application requirements. Some applications will be CPU-intensive, others memory-intensive, while others are cost-sensitive. Likewise, understanding whether this is the best short and long-term solution for the business as well as the total cost of ownership (TCO) and predicted return on investment (RoI) is important.  

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Cybersecurity remains one of the most important business investments amid new threats, including those presented by Generative AI. However, as businesses invest in ways to mitigate cyber risk, many are uncertain if the increased spending is helping their organizations bolster their cyber stance -- often because they lack proof.

As new research highlights that fewer organizations feel confident that their business can withstand a cyber attack, how can businesses build and prove their organization-wide preparedness for threats? 

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