Whether you own a small, local business or operate a large international corporation, businesses of all sizes are facing a number of security challenges in today’s modern age.
From digital threats to physical contaminations, when it comes to ensuring the security of your company both on-site and online, a thorough assessment to recognize all the challenges that could be faced is absolutely imperative.
To help you get familiar with some of today’s current and emerging risks, here are five of the most significant security threats that organizations are facing in 2023.
1. Social Engineering
Similar to phishing, hackers have always used social engineering attacks to trick victims into surrendering sensitive information, such as credit card details and login credentials.
Though many organizations are enhancing their email security to block phishing attacks, cybercriminals are remaining a step ahead, coming up with sophisticated phishing kits that aid in financial fraud and data breaches.
As phishing requires minimal investment and is a high-reward method for cybercriminals to gain legitimate access to credentials, it will continue to be a big cybersecurity threat. In fact, in its 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon revealed that phishing remains the number one cause of data breaches globally.
Additionally, SMS phishing (a.k.a SMiShing) is another form of a social engineering attack that is expected to gain prominence in the near future. The popularity of messaging apps, like Slack and Signal, is encouraging attackers to switch to these platforms to trick users into downloading malware on their mobile devices. To give you an idea of what SMiShing messages are like, here are some examples that Digital Trends put together.
To protect your company and customers from SMiShing attacks, do not reply to messages from individuals or businesses you don’t recognize. Don’t click on any links unless you know the person that sent it. And even if you do receive a link from someone you know, verify the link with them first before clicking on it.
The recent high-profile social engineering attack on Twitter, which had some of the platform’s most prominent names posting invitations for an apparent Bitcoin scam, is proof that link verification is essential, regardless of who the link is from.
2. IoT Vulnerabilities
There are projected to be 13.6 smart devices per person by the year 2022. This includes speaker assistants (like the Amazon Echo), cameras, smart locks, and more.
And businesses are taking advantage of these smart devices to not connect not only with people but with equipment as well, like manufacturing sensors. The problem is that all these devices mean more endpoints to your network that can get hacked into.
Not changing the security settings, default name, and password on your company’s IoT devices is one major cause of breaches. As your organization becomes “smarter,” update your security settings and implement any new technologies in your overall network security and monitoring plan.
3. Tailgating
One of the most widespread and common security breaches affecting organizations today is tailgating—a physical security breach in which an unauthorized person gains access to a secured facility by following an authorized individual into the area.
Implementing a visitor management system and employee ID badge policy could help eliminate the risk of tailgating as it allows security personnel and staff members at reception to easily identify who should and shouldn’t be on the premises.
4. Ransomware
Ransomware is continuing to grow both in quantity of attacks and in ransom demands. Every time an organization has to pay a ransom in hopes of getting their encrypted data back, it emboldens cyber criminals to attack more.
Ransomware protections include having multiple layers to your cybersecurity strategy, like anti-phishing applications, malware detection, and a recurring security awareness training program.
5. Deepfake
Deepfake is a fake video or audio recording, used for illicit purposes, that cybercriminals create by swapping people’s faces in videos or altering its audio track.
This deepfake video of Obama, for example, uses AI to deliver fake news.
Deepfake has made steady progress as the algorithms are now better able to process data. And as deepfake matures, cybercriminals may increasingly use it to foster disruption across various industry segments.
In the business realm, deepfake videos or audios can be used to impersonate CEOs, interrupt business operations, spread wrong information about organizations, and steal millions from them.
In the coming years, deepfake is expected to evolve into a sophisticated method of forgery, making it a significant cybersecurity threat that organizations must be vigilant against..
In today’s modern business landscape, companies face cybercriminals constantly seeking fresh exploits and individuals wanting to cause major disruptions to businesses. In light of this fact, companies should be mindful of these and other challenges, and plan out their security measures accordingly.
From remaining wary of any suspicious content, to implementing tech upgrades to keep their digital assets secure, to putting in place an ID badge system for effective and efficient visitor management and employee tracking, organizations must take proactive measures to reduce their risk now, and in the future.