Every year brings technological innovation more disruptive and impressive than the last. Unfortunately, every year also brings cybercriminals more sophisticated than ever before, and in today’s market, corporations are failing to stay protected.
That’s according to new analysis from cybersecurity provider Radware, which has released its latest yearly report on corporate cybersecurity today (Jan. 19).
While researchers concluded that every industry is vulnerable and cyberattacks are diversifying in scope and strategy, Radware did nail down a few trends in corporate cybercrime that plagued businesses in 2015 and trends likely to come to fruition this year.
A New Reality Of Life
In its Global Application & Network Security Report, Radware uncovered some disturbing facts about corporates’ exposure to cybercrime. According to researchers, more than 90 percent of businesses experienced a cyberattack in 2015. That’s despite the majority (60 percent) claiming they are either extremely or very well-prepared to safeguard against an attack if it comes from a worm or virus.
The strategy cybercriminals are taking to infiltrate a business is changing, leaving businesses unprepared for threats like information theft, DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks and advanced persistent threats.
In 2015, the company found, the diversified strategy of these cyberthreats often had one goal in mind: money.
Researchers found what Radware called a “significant growth” in ransom for these attackers, up to 25 percent of all attacks in 2015 from 16 percent a year prior.
And while the reputation of a business remains the top priority for corporations when they consider the impact of a cybercrime, researchers found that other concerns are climbing to the front of executives’ minds. Corporations in 2015 were more concerned about losing customers and losing service availability as a result of an attack than in years past.
“Battle Of The Bots”
Those sci-fi films predicting the demise of mankind as robots and computers take over the world are still pretty far off. But in 2016, Radware predicts a “battle of the bots” as technology provides cybercriminals with a mechanism to automate their attacks.
This, the report concluded, means that corporations will need to fight fire with fire — or, in this case, fight robots with robots.
“It is no longer realistic to believe humans can deploy detection technologies and choreograph threat responses in real time,” Radware stated in a press release offered today. “Rather, it has become necessary to fight automated threats with automation technology.”
Radware Vice President of Security Solutions Carl Herberger stressed this point even further in a statement announcing the new research.
“The front lines of information security will not include humans,” he said. “As defenses continue to succumb to an endless flood of sophisticated, automated attacks and an infinite number of new attack techniques, the idea of humans having the ability to deploy detection technologies and choreograph responses in real time will disappear.”
“We are approaching the fall of human cyberdefenses and the rise of cyberbotted defense,” he concluded.
[bctt tweet=”‘We are approaching the fall of human cyberdefenses.'”]
It may seem like a science fiction plot, but with corporations integrating digital, automated processes, the exposure to cyberthreats is on the rise. For instance, as B2B companies adopt electronic solutions to connect buyers and suppliers and as they implement automated procure-to-pay solutions, there is more opportunity for a cybercriminal to disrupt these online processes and intercept funds.
Herberger called cyberattacks “the new normal” for corporations in 2015. This year, he added, should be the year that businesses fight back.
“Organizations should prepare for the challenges that will lie ahead in 2016, laying the groundwork now to fight back against new methods and motivation,” he said.
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