With cyber threats evolving and becoming more sophisticated, businesses need to rethink their cybersecurity strategies and make them more impactful. They cannot ignore the threats in the backdrop of the economic headwinds the world faces, and should remain committed to shore up their cybersecurity measures. In fact, the cybersecurity market is expected to touch $173.50 billion in 2023, and the revenue is expected to reach a market volume of $262.40 billion by 2027 (source: Statista). At Cybernetic Global Intelligence, we give insights into the cybersecurity scenario that is likely to unfold in 2023.
Cybersecurity Predictions for 2023
The range of cybersecurity challenges that are likely to prevail in 2023 is as follows. Businesses are well advised to draw up strategies to counter them.
Cybercriminals to capitalize on recession:
It is common knowledge that cybercriminals are becoming more resourceful, sophisticated, and opportunistic. They are likely to strike with a vengeance, as some businesses may consider cutting down on cybersecurity budgets thanks to the recessionary headwinds prevailing all across the globe. This will be akin to locking only a few doors to your home, especially when there is an increase in the number of thefts and burglaries in the neighbourhood.
Remember, cybercriminals need to get it right only once to gain access to confidential customer and business information. Bottom line: recession or no recession, there should not be any lax implementation of cybersecurity measures.
Supply chain attacks to increase:
In this type of attack, cybercriminals target a vulnerable area in a business’ supply chain to gain access to its network and cause data breaches. This is mainly done by attacking the vendors or third-party suppliers that are connected to the business’ network. In 2023, malicious actors are expected to attack third-party vendors to compromise the global supply chain.
In such attacks, these actors will infect the open-source stores or repositories with malicious codes. The codes will be transmitted to a business’ systems when it connects with such vendors to pick up plugins. According to Kevin Kirdwood, the deputy CISO, “Without a robust scanning program and a “curated zone” for source code and plugins, companies will continue to be at risk.”
Ransomware criminals likely to corrupt and not encrypt files:
Ransomware has emerged as one of the most challenging attack vectors, troubling businesses and individuals alike. In 2023, there is a greater likelihood of cybercriminals using ransomware to corrupt data instead of encrypting it. This is because corrupting files is comparatively easier than encrypting files.
With encryption, cybercriminals need to handle a complex public-private key pair and offer a decryption code once the victim pays up. Corrupting data can put businesses without a backup on the back foot, as either they need to pay up or risk losing data. This brings into focus the importance of taking a backup of critical business data.
Focus on securing critical assets: With a looming economic recession, businesses are likely to cut non-essential costs. Thus, it is likely that they will invest more in security-critical business data, consolidate cybersecurity tools, and double down on implementing prevention and detection technologies.
Businesses to feel stressed about regulations:
Given the ever-expanding threat of cybercrime, governments and regulatory agencies will look at formulating and enforcing new regulations and legislation. This can pose a serious challenge for businesses as they need to invest resources, either in-house or by hiring cybersecurity companies, to comply with tricky and complex regulations.
For instance, businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia Pacific region can seek the help of Cybernetic Global Intelligence to become compliant with a number of regulatory standards, such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, SSAE 18 (SOC1 and SOC2), APRA CPS 234, HIPAA, and others.
Businesses to seek managed services:
As the setting up and maintainence of a full-fledged cybersecurity team in-house can be a costly proposition in the times of economic downturn, businesses will look towards managed services to take care of their cybersecurity needs. With such services, they can fill their internal skill gaps and help achieve maturity in detecting and responding to threats, unlocking 24 x 7 visibility, and mitigating risks.
For instance, one of the premier cybersecurity support services, Cybernetic Global Intelligence, provides a host of managed services to businesses. These include incident response, log monitoring, phishing simulation, and SIEM implementation.
Expand end-user awareness training:
Cyber threats such as phishing, multi-factor authentication, and other social engineering tactics have harmed many companies last year, namely Uber, Microsoft, and Cisco. In 2023, businesses will focus on training their end-users to detect threats. They need to reassess and expand their end-user awareness training to allow the latter to be familiar with extortion tactics and other social engineering machinations.
Conclusion
The tactics employed by cybercriminals are going to become more sophisticated and difficult to detect. Businesses should always be on their guard to detect and repel such threats. The year 2023 will bring new challenges for businesses across domains and geographies, which they can only navigate by implementing stringent cybersecurity measures.
To mitigate risks, comply with regulations, and strengthen the IT security infrastructure, businesses can hire the services of professional cybersecurity companies, such as Cybernetic Global Security. Call 1300 292 376 or send an email at contact@cybernetic-gi.com. Remember, precaution is always better than cure.