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2024 was a landmark year for cyber security, with intensifying threats testing the resilience of existing infrastructure and the efficacy of existing strategies.
Since the start of the year, many industries have seen an alarming rise in ransomware attacks and cyber extortion, with supply chains showing particular vulnerability. This rise is due in part to an increasingly unstable geopolitical climate fostering mistrust and antagonism both between and within different nations. Malware technology also continues to advance, assisted by the development of smarter AI.
In this climate, staying informed and prepared is the secret to any business’s survival. Here are some of the ways in which the cyber security landscape changed in 2024.
Just as AI technology has been adopted by countless industries to further productivity over the last twelve months, it has also been harnessed by a greater number of cyber criminals.
Generative AI phishing and deepfake scams have complicated the cyber security landscape and exposed alarming vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities result mostly from human error and insufficient cyber security training.
In response, many businesses have begun to adopt AI-driven monitoring tools and new, more proactive training programs which emphasise the most effective ways to recognise and weed out malicious AI content, namely by adopting a zero-trust approach.
Ransomware is malware which accesses a company’s data and locks it, preventing access until a ransom is paid. Extortionware is similar, but instead of threatening to lock data away, the cyber criminal threatens to leak it, exposing private, embarrassing, or potentially illegal information.
While ransomware attacks remain more common than cyber extortion, the latter has seen a
significant increase in 2024, and its not hard to see why. Any company which takes cyber security seriously will frequently back up their data offline, mitigating some or all the damage a ransomware attack can do.
If an attacker threatens to release data rather than lock it, these offline backups become worthless, making the business more likely to respond to demands for payment. This means the only way to combat an extortionware attack is to prevent it entirely.
The continued and developing instability in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine have had a ripple effect across the cyber security industry, with many companies tied to those countries seeing an increase in cyber-attacks.
This is a trend which looks set to continue into 2025, with the uncertainty over new leadership in many countries around the world – France, Germany and the USA among them. Any increase in geopolitical tensions may make businesses more vulnerable to malware attacks.
In response to the increasing frequency of cyber attacks and the theft and misuse of personal data, governments across the globe have started to adopt more stringent regulations on cyber security.
These stricter guidelines aim to protect consumers and hold businesses accountable for any failures of data safeguarding. Businesses have needed to become more adaptable by rapidly changing their security strategies to meet these tightening regulations.
When it comes to cyber security, the lessons of 2024 are to take a proactive, zero trust approach. This means not only keeping up to date with developing technologies, but training employees in comprehensive safeguarding strategies and response plans.
The cybersecurity landscape of 2024 may have revealed new and serious threats, but it has also presented opportunities. The harnessing of AI for defensive purposes will become more essential in the coming months and years, as will the development of adaptable and robust security measures that will not impede innovation.
The best way to ensure the continued safety of your essential data is to prepare for every conceivable threat. If you’re concerned about the security of your business data, SRM’s cyber security consultants can help you navigate this challenging landscape.
