In our increasingly interconnected world, businesses are highly dependent on the dynamic mesh of digital links with customers, partners, suppliers and service providers. While these connections help drive efficiency and productivity, they can also create a conduit for unwanted intrusions.

As we enter National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it is hard to escape the conclusion that cybersecurity has never been more important — or more difficult.

Threats are growing more frequent, sophisticated and costly. Data, devices and other assets keep moving beyond the reach of network perimeter defenses.

The accelerated adoption of digital technologies is a bit of a double-edged sword. While it clearly drives new levels of efficiency, productivity and innovation, it can also introduce new vulnerabilities. Increased reliance on cloud, mobile, edge and wireless technologies to support remote and hybrid workforces substantially expands the typical organization’s attack surface.

Fifty years after it was invented by an MIT engineer, email remains the world’s most popular business communication tool. Unfortunately, it is also the single greatest source of business data leakage.

A whopping 95 percent of IT leaders say that customer and company data is at risk on email, according to the 2021 Data Loss Prevention Report by the cybersecurity firm Egress.

It’s no secret that cybersecurity threats have become more sophisticated and dangerous. Hackers now use bots to carry out constant attacks and have become master manipulators, using convincing language and realistic graphics to fool people into clicking malicious links.

Remote and mobile working gives organizations the flexibility and agility they need to meet today’s operational requirements. Unfortunately, it also creates a multitude of new security challenges.

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting endpoint devices such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones because they provide a direct route into corporate networks.

In our last post, we discussed how regular network assessments can help organizations identify any gaps in their security posture in order to make the necessary modifications to close those gaps. A penetration test, or pen test, is perhaps the most critical element of a comprehensive testing process.

The FBI has confirmed that 2020 was a record year for cybercrime in the U.S., with all-time highs in both the number of attacks reported and the resulting financial losses. For the year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 791,790 cybercrime complaints (up 69 percent from 2019) with reported losses exceeding $4.1 billion.

Ransomware is a cash cow for cybercriminals, netting more than $350 million in ransom payments last year — although it is likely much more because many victims don’t report attacks in order to preserve their reputation. It’s easy money for the crooks because most companies just pay the ransom so they can regain access to their encrypted data and get back to business as quickly as possible.

As organizations continue to shift more and more workloads to the cloud, they may inadvertently create security vulnerabilities. Recent research finds that configuration errors, insecure interfaces, unpatched applications, and poor encryption and authentication practices are opening the door for a variety of exploits.