“The knock-on effect of a data breach can be devastating for a company. When customers start taking their business—and their money—elsewhere, that can be a real body blow.” – Christopher Graham

In January 2021, we witnessed the largest ransomware demand in history: the $50 million ransom demand from Acer by REvil gang. Although the actual amount paid will be considerably less then the original demand it is still extremely lucrative for cybercrimals.

One of the biggest problems with traditional user ID and password login is the need to maintain a password database. Whether encrypted or not, if the database is captured it provides an attacker with a source to verify their guesses at speeds limited only by their hardware resources. Given enough time, a captured password database will fall.

As processing speeds of CPUs increase, brute force attacks have become a real threat. GPGPU cracking can produce more than 500,000,000 passwords per second even on lower end gaming hardware. Depending on the software, it can take as little as 160 seconds to crack a 14-character alphanumeric password. A password database alone does not stand a chance against such methods when it is a real target of interest.

2020 brought unprecedented global changes and cyber security was no exception. From the widescale shift to remote working triggered by the pandemic, to the record-high cryptocurrency prices, to one of the worst cyber attacks of all time. The tools and tactics we started with in 2020 are no match for the threat landscape of 2021.

“If you put a key under the mat for the cops, a burglar can find it, too. Criminals are using every technology tool at their disposal to hack into people’s accounts. If they know there’s a key hidden somewhere, they won’t stop until they find it.” Tim Cook

In the game of cat and mouse between data security and bad actors, extended detection and response (XDR) is the latest weapon that organizations can utilize to strengthen their security posture.

XDR is a new approach to threat detection and response, a key element in defending an organization’s infrastructure and data from damage or unauthorized access and misuse. 

Let’s face it: we live in a digitally-driven world where we are constantly surrounded by increasing cyber security vulnerabilities and hackers waiting in the wings to make their next move.

Now that we’re a month into the new year, it’s time to take a look at the top technology trends most likely to disrupt business in 2019 and beyond. Some of these trends are a continuation of what we experienced in 2018, while others are exciting new developments. Here are our top five:

The talk of data protection, data breaches, and cyber security won't be going away anytime soon. As a rising threat all over the world, it's become more important than ever before to gain a deeper understanding of these trends and the short and long-term effects they could have on your business. 

Since 2003, October has been recognized as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). This effort was brought to life through a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance. NCSAM was created to ensure that every individual stays safe and secure online.

Today, news broke of new threat called "Petya" , the latest in a disturbing trend of ransomware attacks worldwide. It is becoming one of the top types of Malware and the sophistication of these types of attacks are ever increasing.  These latest global attacks, including the the recent “WannaCry” attack are examples of the sophistication of these threats  This Ransomware was combined with a worm-like behaviour that aided the spread of the malware based upon OS vulnerabilities.