Closing the gap between cyber risk strategy and execution
Effective cyber risk management is more crucial than ever for organizations across all industries as threat actors are constantly evolving their tactics. Yet, the latest Cyber Risk Peer Benchmarking Report from Critical Start unveils a striking dichotomy between strategy and execution in cyber risk management. While 91 percent of organizations acknowledge the criticality of having a robust risk management strategy, the execution of these strategies appear to fall short.
This gap between cyber risk strategy and execution widens as organizations grow larger. To fully comprehend an organization’s risk and executive strategies effectively, IT leaders must first understand the lifecycle of cyber risk and ensure each stage is addressed.
Identity governance: Balancing cost reduction with effective risk management
Cost reduction is a top priority for many organizations, leading to the adoption of various technologies to automate tasks and improve efficiencies for cost savings. However, minimizing risk should also be a key objective for every business.
To achieve this, companies are looking into Identity Governance and Administration (IGA), which is a policy framework and security solution for automating the creation, management, and certification of user accounts, roles, and access rights. This ensures consistency, efficiency, and improved awareness, all of which are essential for reducing security risks. However, implementing IGA can often be seen as a laborious task that gets abandoned before the business experiences the benefits it has to offer.
Companies aren't 'owning' their data
With a rapidly developing threat landscape, an increase in high-profile data breaches, the introduction of new legislation, and customer tolerance for poor data handling at an all-time low, the stakes are high for companies to have robust cybersecurity in place. However, despite their best efforts, companies are often found to not be doing enough to protect their assets.
Often, this is due to a case of ‘too much, too fast’. As businesses invest in new technologies, their day-to-day operations are being supported by ever more complex and fragmented technology platforms. At the same time, the amount of customer data available to them is growing and constantly streaming in, and bad actors are consistently launching more sophisticated attacks. Meanwhile, leaders are not fully aware of or own responsibility for their cybersecurity plans. As the digital world evolves with new threats and regulations, business leaders must recognize the importance of data protection. If they do not, they cannot adequately protect their customer's data and are in danger of losing their trust and even their continued existence in business.
Why businesses can't go it alone over the EU AI Act
When the European Commission proposed the first EU regulatory framework for AI in April 2021, few would have imagined the speed at which such systems would evolve over the next three years. Indeed, according to the 2024 Stanford AI Index, in the past 12 months alone, chatbots have gone from scoring around 30-40 percent on the Graduate-Level Google-Proof Q&A Benchmark (GPQA) test, to 60 percent. That means chatbots have gone from scoring only marginally better than would be expected by randomly guessing answers, to being nearly as good as the average PhD scholar.
The benefits of such technology are almost limitless, but so are the ethical, practical, and security concerns. The landmark EU AI Act (EUAIA) legislation was adopted in March this year in an effort to overcome these concerns, by ensuring that any systems used in the European Union are safe, transparent, and non-discriminatory. It provides a framework for establishing:
The $13 billion problem: Tackling the growing sophistication of account takeovers
Fraudsters have used account takeovers (ATOs) to victimize 29 percent of internet users, resulting in $13 billion in losses in 2023. Over three-quarters of security leaders listed ATOs as one of the most concerning cyber threats, and the danger grows as bad actors leverage AI to launch more potent attacks.
The Snowflake breach demonstrates the devastating consequences of ATOs. Attackers gained access to 165 of the data platform’s customers’ systems, including AT&T and Ticketmaster, and exfiltrated hundreds of millions of records containing sensitive data. The attack wasn’t some brilliant hacking scheme -- the bad actors simply used legitimate credentials to log into the platform.
Why third-party email filters may be ineffective in Microsoft 365 environments
Because email is the primary source of initial entry in many breaches, many organizations pay for sophisticated, third-party email filtering solutions on top of the protections afforded by Microsoft 365. This is a wise investment; having layers of protection by different vendors helps eliminate blind spots found in any one vendor solution and provides complexity that can foil attack attempts.
Yet, few know that threat actors can easily bypass these third-party filtering products by directing emails to onmicrosoft.com domains that are an inherent part of the Microsoft 365 configuration.
Think rebuild, not recovery, after a supply chain attack
We are living in a time when siloed businesses are increasingly rare. Supply chains are the lifeblood of modern organizations, enabling the seamless flow of goods, services, and information. This interconnected network creates a trade ecosystem vital to the survival of both businesses and consumers.
So, understandably, when a cyberattack disrupts this critical process, the immediate response is often panic-driven -- focusing solely on getting operations back online as quickly as possible. While restoring functionality is essential, this approach frequently overlooks a crucial aspect: rebuilding security.
How will AI change the future of software development teams?
AI is revolutionizing the landscape of software development, but it isn’t about replacing human developers. Instead, we are entering an era of “AI-augmented development,” where AI tools are becoming invaluable allies, enhancing human abilities across the software lifecycle. AI will help close the gap between the high demand for custom software and the limited engineering capacity worldwide.
In this new paradigm, AI is stepping in to assist with repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing developers to focus on more complex problems. The evolution of software teams will include a new breed of AI-native developers specializing in integrating AI into applications and leveraging AI tools. With AI, the potential productivity boost for developers is extraordinary, allowing them to work faster and smarter. However, while AI can amplify a developer's capabilities, it cannot replace the human creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making that are essential to successful software development. The future belongs to teams that can skillfully blend AI with human expertise.
The magic of RAG is in the retrieval
Any leading large language model will do. To succeed with retrieval-augmented generation, focus on optimizing the retrieval model and ensuring high-quality data.
The decades-long pursuit to capture, organize and apply the collective knowledge within an enterprise has failed time and again because available software tools were incapable of understanding the noisy unstructured data that comprises the vast majority of the enterprise knowledge base. Until now. Large language models (LLMs) that power generative AI tools excel at processing and understanding unstructured data, making them ideal for powering enterprise knowledge management systems.
Supercharge your SaaS with an integration marketplace
The average company uses 342 SaaS apps prompting B2B software buyers to consider integrations a top priority in their purchasing decisions. However, simply providing connections between platforms is not enough for SaaS companies to deliver a good user experience. Customers should be able to discover, activate and monitor integrations without calling customer support.
An integration marketplace offers an elegant solution to software connectivity challenges. This feature provides a centralized, self-service hub for integrations that delivers a seamless experience for customers connecting your application to their other tools. Users can create a more cohesive tech stack with just a few clicks. Marketplaces save customers time and resources and position your company as a more flexible, scalable and indispensable partner, driving higher product adoption and customer retention.
SMBs IT challenges: The quest for data-centric talent
Decision-makers are increasingly relying on data analytics to inform everything from market strategies to operational efficiencies. S&P Market Intelligence 451 Research’s global survey of 2,362 executives working at small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) cites a greater appreciation for the value of data among organizations that have historically tended not to invest as heavily in tools and platforms that maximize the business value of the data collected.
And while large enterprises continue to invest in technology and staff to glean data findings, small- to medium-sized businesses can struggle to extract the full value from their data investments. The root of this issue often lies in the composition of their IT teams. small- to medium-sized businesses frequently employ IT generalists who, while skilled in various aspects of technology, may lack the deep expertise required to manage data effectively. This gap in specialized knowledge can prevent businesses from fully leveraging their data assets.
Log files: What are they, why do they matter and how to protect them?
Log files come with many challenges. Firstly, they exist as enormous volumes of data. Almost everything that a user does is recorded, meaning that they quickly pile up, and not all of them are useful.
Secondly, they aren’t all uniform as they come in various shapes and sizes, serving various purposes. Event logs, system logs, access logs and server logs are just some of the various types that are collected and stored. This large volume of data means that processing and analyzing logs for use can be time-consuming and complex.
Is your network future-proofed for the age of AI?
The internet was a massive, revolutionary invention. A once-in-a-lifetime breakthrough. And yet, it was not an overnight sensation in terms of consumer adoption. This may surprise some people today. From the early web browsers in 1992 to the explosion of dot-coms in 1998, it took roughly six years for the general public to truly embrace the world wide web. Fast forward to today, and the landscape has dramatically shifted.
Consider the recent phenomenon of ChatGPT, the large language model chatbot launched by OpenAI in late 2022. Within a year, consumer adoption of this AI technology reached a fever pitch. For a while, it was all anyone in tech and business circles could talk about. In fact, they still are. This highlights a critical difference in our current technological era, which is that innovation is happening and being adopted at an unprecedented pace.
Old habits, new threats -- Why more phishing attacks are bypassing outdated perimeter detection
Perimeter solutions such as Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) have long been a cornerstone of email security, historically serving as the primary line of defence against malicious emails entering an organization. Utilizing legacy technology such as signature and reputation-based detection, SEGs have provided pre-delivery intervention by quarantining malicious attacks before they reach the end recipient.
Why, then, are 91 percent of cybersecurity leaders frustrated with their SEGs, and 87 percent considering a replacement?
Why is the world witnessing a surge in data breaches?
While the world of cybersecurity has always been fairly unpredictable, what’s certain is that data breaches are on the rise. But what’s driving this trend, how long will it continue, and what can organizations do about it?
According to the 2023 Annual Data Breach Report by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a non-profit organization, data compromises have leapt up in the past two years. From the previous record of 1,860 in 2021 they dropped slightly to 1,801 in 2022 but rebounded to reach a new high of 3,205 last year. That’s an increase of 72 percent over just two years.
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