Microsoft 365 is among the world’s most popular Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms, with some 345 million users worldwide. Analysts estimate that companies using the suite of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools collectively generate a whopping 100 petabytes of data each month — much of which is extremely sensitive information that could lead to serious financial, legal and operational damage if lost or compromised.
The integration of technology into classrooms has transformed the educational experience. Unfortunately, it has also opened the schoolhouse doors to electronic intrusion by hackers, crooks and thieves. According to one new study, ransomware attacks targeting K-12 schools grew by an astonishing 827 percent in 2022. Phishing, malware and denial-of-service attacks also increased substantially.
It’s like we aren’t even trying anymore.
Despite years of repeated warnings, millions of Americans rely on preposterously simple passwords that offer little or no security for critical data and systems. NordPass’s annual list of the 200 most-common passwords includes such gems as “password,” “123456,” “guest,” “qwerty” and “111111.” Researchers note that 83 percent of the passwords on that list can be cracked in less than one second.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of reliable wireless connectivity in a work-from-anywhere world. Organizations must support more wireless users, devices and applications than ever, and analysts say total Wi-Fi traffic is doubling every three years.
Recent research shows an alarming 84 percent increase in reported cyberattacks against the education sector over the past six months. Recent high-profile victims include some of the largest K-12 school districts in the country, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Minneapolis Public School District and Chicago Public Schools.
Outdated systems, misconfigured applications and exposed cloud resources are often considered the weakest links in any organization’s IT security. However, it’s the human attack surface that is most frequently exploited — and a new type of browser-based tactic is rapidly becoming the attack of choice by malicious actors.
The numbers paint a disturbing picture of the current state of cybercrime. During one average day in 2023, researchers say, the world can expect to see:
3.4 billion phishing emails
300,000 malware infections
22,500 distributed denial of service attacks
2,328 data breaches
Faced with this relentless onslaught, organizations have had to accept that it is no longer possible to prevent every attack.
Surging levels of cybercrime cost the global economy more than $8 trillion in 2022 — and most experts think the worst is yet to come.
Ninety-three percent of cybersecurity leaders and 86 percent of business leaders believe that a “far-reaching, catastrophic cyber event” is likely to occur within the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Cybersecurity Outlook.
In the rapidly shifting world of business technology, new workloads, complex network requirements and evolving cyber threats can overwhelm resource-constrained IT organizations. That’s why an estimated two-thirds of U.S. businesses partner with managed services providers (MSPs) to keep their IT environments operating at peak efficiency.
With the transition to mobile, remote and hybrid work models, organizations today commonly support tens of thousands of network-connected endpoints such as PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. That has resulted in a greatly expanded attack surface and created a wealth of opportunities for malicious actors.
