iONLINE CIO Herman Thom recently attended The Official Cybersecurity Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, where he heard from information security experts and technology providers from around the world about how organisations can best protect their critical infrastructures and ward against cyber-attacks.
“The biggest buzzwords were AI and ransomware,” Herman says. “Last year saw a huge increase in ransomware attacks. The latest figures show that payments exceeded US$1 billion in 2023.”
AI has evolved the attack surfaces that hackers use, and they are constantly adapting, Herman continues. “With AI's help, hackers are now constructing more extensive and more advanced phishing attacks. This calls for staff to be trained more regularly and to be more vigilant.”
Herman highlights ‘targeted emotional spear phishing’ as one of the most difficult attacks to prevent, giving the example of an executive who receives an email from the school their child attends, about their child not performing as well as they should academically. This is an easy trigger, he says.
“One of the biggest questions is: will you be ready when – not if – your company gets hacked?” he posits.
HERE ARE 5 WAYS TO BE PROACTIVE ABOUT CYBER SAFETY:
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