How to reduce cyber vulnerabilities in the digital era

With the accelerated transition to Digital during the pandemic period, also come the concerns regarding cyber security. According to ‘Cost of a Data Breach Report 2021’ by IBM, the average total cost of a data breach increased by nearly 10% year over year, the largest single year cost increase in the last seven years. The report further states that Ransomware attacks cost an average of $4.62 million, more expensive than the average data breach ($4.24 million).

As per news reports, taking cognizance of the growing threat of cyber attacks, the government is preparing to set up a unified national-level cyber security task force.

In this article, Dr Robert Blumofe, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Akamai Technologies, highlights some of the key cyber security issues that are expected to dominate in 2022.

APIs will be the biggest attack surface targeted by criminals, if they’re not already.

The growth of APIs in all aspects of business, coupled with a lack of visibility into the attacks they face means that criminals can compromise organisations far easier and for far longer than better understood targets. Far too many organisations lack anything but the most basic visibility into their own APIs. In 2022, we will see criminals target this attack surface more regularly, and organisations will need to adjust their security posture to reduce these vulnerabilities.

The impact of Ransomware will get much worse before it gets better

Previously, cyber crime was dominated by two types of criminals: the hactivists, who were fairly unsophisticated and easy to protect against; and the nation states, who are very sophisticated and pretty much impossible to defend against. Now we’ve moved into an era dominated by financial motivation. Ransomware is the new face of organised crime, and in 2022 we will see these types of attacks get worse before they get better. While law enforcement is accelerating their efforts to combat Ransomware, it is a problem that can’t be solved overnight. Better security practices, such as micro-segmentation, aren’t new, but properly implemented, they can help lessen the impact on your business.

Hybrid workplaces will mean hybrid vulnerabilities

Many organisations have embraced a hybrid working environment, where employees can work from home just as easily as the office. But this has created security complexity, increasing an organisation’s potential attack surface to include employee’s consumer devices – like home WiFi routers and smart TVs. In 2022, organisations will be forced to address this complexity, and decide how to balance corporate security with employee satisfaction.