The forecast is for an increase in criminal activity with the use of AI and Machine Learning tools; 2023 broke a record again and should surpass the mark of 150 billion attacks
While companies have significantly increased investments in cybersecurity, the company's Security Forecasts report Trend Micro for 2024 shows that technological advances and the boom in investments in machine learning and artificial intelligence will provoke even more complex and elaborate attacks. This is because these technologies will also be exploited and added to the arsenal of digital criminals.
Credit: Trend Micro website
The scenario is worrying considering that the number of cyber attacks again broke a record in 2023. From January to November alone, Trend Micro blocked more than 149 billion and 300 million threats, surpassing the total of 146 billion attacks registered in 2022, which had already been the largest in history.
“With so many technological transformations, executives will not only need to demonstrate a willingness to adjust their cybersecurity strategies, but they will also need to reevaluate their workflows to accommodate growth in order to protect assets and sensitive data”, highlights César Candido , general director of Trend Micro Brazil.
The report “Critical Scalability: Security Predictions for 2024” by Trend Micro lists the main cyber threats for the year that is starting. Check out some highlights!
– Use of Generative AI for attacks: With the advancement of Generative AI, along with the use of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create audio and video content, scammers will be able to imitate legitimate communication channels, posing as senior leaders to request money transfers , creating a new wave of Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, also known as “CEO Fraud”, in addition to other types of scams;
– Growth of attacks on private blockchains: Vulnerabilities in the implementation of a number of blockchains will allow evil hackers to take advantage of these weaknesses to modify, replace, or erase entries and then demand a ransom. They will also be able to encrypt the entire blockchain if they believe they will be able to take control of enough points;
– Cloud security: investing in this type of security is essential for companies to resolve security gaps, with emphasis on the vulnerability of cloud-native applications and protection from automated attacks. Proactive measures, including adopting robust defense mechanisms and thorough security audits, will be essential to mitigate risks;
– Increased supply chain attacks: not only Upstream (original) open source software components will be targets of attacks, but also telecommunications Security Management System (SIM) resources, essential for controlling fleets and inventories. Last year, 52% of global organizations had supply chains hit by ransomware. Among the main code injection attacks are credential harvesting, resource hijacking, cryptomining and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Cybercriminals are always looking for opportunities to optimize operations, magnify the impact of their breaches, and reinvent time-tested tactics to escalate vulnerabilities and automate attacks. Regardless of how advanced an organization is in its cloud migration journey, security teams must go beyond the usual malware and vulnerability analyzes to stay ahead of attackers.
To read a full copy of the report “Critical Scalability: Trend Micro Security Predictions for 2024 click ON HERE.
