2024 has been a big year for the bad guys. Cybersecurity crimes have cost US companies record dollars this year. Virtually everyone has felt the effects of a breach one way or another. The current count for records stolen in just the AT&T breach is now topping 1Billion and still counting! And they weren’t even the largest breach, they were number 4!
The bad news is that it’s not going to slow down and with bad actors using more sophisticated tools augmented by AI, the rate of attacks will likely keep increasing in 2025.
The good news is that you can effectively combat cyber-attacks in a lot of different ways. Over the next month, we’re going to take a look at the forecast for cybersecurity threats in some specific industries based on some anticipated trends for 2025. And more importantly, offer some tips on how best to prepare your organization to defeat these adverse events before they happen.
In this first installment, we will look at some overall factors that will affect all businesses in 2025.
AI driven cyber attacks
Like it or not AI is here to stay and as an efficiency tool, it has greatly matured over the past year. Likewise, AI generated cyber-attacks have become much more sophisticated than ever and are predicted to surge in 2025. Between the increased sophistication of AI deep fakes and the ability to automate attacks making them much quicker and more frequent, this is a technology that must be proactively defended against. Organizations must be hyper-vigilant on compliance and prevention around AI threats.
Tips and tricks – for keeping AI (and all) threats at bay
In your home, protect your most vulnerable populations which include the elderly and young children.
Train your workforce - publish a comprehensive AI use policy document and formally train them on it in regular intervals
Filter or block traffic from outside the US unless it is a known source you do business with
Run periodic Tabletop Breach Simulation Exercises to give your management team a thorough understanding of their roles in the event of an actual breach
If you are associated with sensitive information at work or within your family (e.g. high net worth individuals), go private on social media
People need “second factor” authentication methods that AI cannot intervene in or manipulate – this has been stated as the single most effective step you can take to fight cyber crime
Risk Management:
With cybersecurity risks increasing at an increasing rate, a sound, logical, and measured cybersecurity preparedness plan is required to balance the corporate risk register, a risk management repository of all identified risks and their mitigation strategies. The corporate risk management plan must include all aspects of cybersecurity risk. Risk management needs to be proactive - don’t assume the concept of risk management is understood in your organization, and that all of your leaders collectively manage it the same way.
Tips and tricks – for running effective cyber-risk management
Run a risk management-led security program and train your non-security managers on the concepts and processes along with your security team
Don’t over index on expensive risk tools when a spreadsheet and meetings will suffice
Take action – risk management is not just a conceptual thought exercise. You are modeling future events and their business impact, but it has no value to the business unless you also act immediately upon discovering a weakness in your risk matrix, which is the organized output of your risk assessment activities.
Human Centered Program Design and Execution
As tech wizards and cyber geeks, we can get all too caught up in the details around tech stacks, Hypertext Transfer Protocol Strict Transport Security, and Host-based Intrusion Prevention Systems, and much more, but the critical glue that holds all these concepts and systems together is human interaction.
People are usually the weak point of entry that bad actors will exploit. Poorly designed software interfaces and dashboards, insufficient training to recognize information that is suspect, and frankly overburdened and stressed-out work force, can all lead to gaps in the security framework. A cybersecurity program’s success is heavily reliant on human centered technology solutions with a focus on usability as well as helping support human behavior change.
Tips and tricks – for supporting a human centered security program
Human Focused Security Training is critical to supporting your staff - classroom education (in person and interactive), if possible, leads to greater participation and buy-in not a web based annual 30 minute review.
Provide a mentorship attitude from your security team to support the staff – not viewing the IT support team as the cybersecurity police but instead as a resource will go a long way toward buy-in and adherence to your program guidelines
Implement a user driven cybersecurity support program which includes initial security onboarding, specific role-based training and support, and if needed remedial training for certain situations
Show patience and understanding for the non-technical team members who are required to learn new technical information
Build consensus around the need for human centered training at the C-suite/board level – buy in at from the top will ensure that budget and other resources are properly allocated to effectively support the program
Upcoming information for specific industries
Over the following weeks, Security Counsel will release 2025 cybersecurity forecasts for specific industries which will include healthcare, manufacturing, the insurance industry, and several more. We will review specific trends and predictions around the threat landscape and offer more tips and tricks to help your organization guard against these risks.
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