Defense-in-depth strategy can help organizations counter surging levels of cybercrime.

Although exact figures won’t be tallied for another couple of months, most security analysts expect 2021 to rank as perhaps the worst year ever for cybercrime. With data breaches, ransomware attacks, phishing scams and malware infections all increasing at a record pace, global damages from cybercrime are expected to reach more than $6 trillion by the end of the year — six times more than in 2020.

Don’t expect cybercriminals to take a vacation in 2022.

“The sophistication and scale of cyberattacks will continue to break records, and we can expect a huge increase in the number of ransomware and mobile attacks,” said Maya Horowitz, VP of Research at Check Point Software.

How hyperconverged infrastructure helps small businesses simplify IT infrastructure and management

The combination of increasing IT complexity and worsening tech skills shortages has been a double-whammy for small to midsized businesses (SMBs). Nearly three-quarters say the need to rapidly deploy new technologies in recent years has made it nearly impossible to effectively manage their IT environments, according to a Vanson Bourne survey.

In response to pandemic-triggered distancing mandates, businesses across the globe moved quickly to adopt cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions for their suddenly remote workforces. Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) adoption surged by 86 percent at the start of the pandemic, according to one survey of U.S. enterprise organizations.

More threats. Growing attack surfaces. Fewer security analysts. It’s no wonder a sense of pessimism permeates the cybersecurity community.
Despite increased investments in 2020, nearly 80 percent of senior IT leaders polled recently by IDG expressed a lack of confidence in their organizations’ IT security posture.

Lacking a coherent collaboration strategy, many organizations adopt multiple collaboration solutions from multiple vendors, and don’t have much of a grasp on how much it all costs. The subscription and license fees are only the tip of the iceberg. Network and IT support costs and a poor user experience add to the TCO of collaboration.

Many organizations focus all of their energy on growing the business but fail to adequately prepare for the challenges that business growth can bring. Growing pains are commonly felt in the areas of communication and collaboration, which become even more important with business expansion.

How would your company respond to a cyberattack at this very moment? Alarmingly, few organizations have a good answer for that question.

Less than one-quarter of U.S. businesses have a formal cybersecurity incident response plan (CSIRP) in place, according to a study by the Ponemon Institute and IBM, making it nearly impossible to respond to serious threats in a timely manner.

Our last post discussed the growing risk of supply chain cyberattacks that allow malicious actors to compromise hundreds or even thousands of organizations through a single attack on one supplier. The indirect path of such attacks means that even organizations with very strong defenses can be vulnerable.

A recent report from Eastern Management Group found that more than half of all surveyed organizations are considering the adoption of a hosted unified communications solution to replace their aging phone system. The top reasons for adoption of Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) solutions focus on popular capabilities such as VoIP, mobility, presence and collaboration tools.

Remote work had already achieved mainstream status before the coronavirus drove millions of us into work-from-home arrangements. Research conducted months before the COVID-19 pandemic found that remote work has increased by more than 150 percent over the past decade, with nearly three-quarters of global professionals reporting they telecommute at least one day a week.