Counting the cost of ransomware
Ransomware attacks have surged recently and the disruption they can cause to the operation of a business can cost many times more than the ransom.
Education website Cyber Security Degrees has produced an infographic looking at the impact of ransomware and at how businesses can protect themselves.
Conversational AI and customer experience [Q&A]
These days when you contact a company online it can be hard to know if you're dealing with an actual person or with an AI bot.
Clearly AI has a role to play in automating repetitive tasks and answering straightforward queries. But can it really have a wider role to play in improving customer experience? We spoke to Derek Roberti, VP of technology at Cognigy, a global conversational AI platform provider, to find out.
One in 10 users click phishing links on mobile platforms
Most web traffic is now associated with users who are mobile, so it's no surprise that hackers are using this to their advantage by crafting attacks specific to mobile platforms.
Clearly this is paying off with as many as one in 10 users clicking on mobile phishing messages according to Apple enterprise management company Jamf's latest Phishing Trends report based on information, statistics and analysis of 500,000 protected devices across 90 countries.
Cyber insurance ransomware claims decline but costs remain high
Research from commercial insurance provider Corvus reveals that the cost of ransomware to businesses remains high.
Ransomware claims that resulted in payments to fraudsters are down though, mostly due to improved backup processes and greater preparedness. In the third quarter of 2020, 44 percent of ransomware claims involved a successful payment, but that decreased to just 12 percent by Q3 of this year.
Businesses have under 10 minutes to approve new accounts online
A joint study by Onfido and Okta finds that businesses have just 10 minutes to set up new digital accounts or risk losing consumer trust.
This is true across sectors, 65 percent want to open a bank account in less than 10 minutes, 69 percent to book a car rental, 72 percent to open a telemedicine account and 77 percent to register a gaming account.
Businesses are afraid of the big bad bots
A new report out today looks at the measures businesses are taking against bots and how successful they are -- and it doesn't offer good news.
The study from Kasada finds that 64 percent of organizations lost more than six percent or more of their revenue due to bot attacks, and 32 percent have lost 10 percent or more in the last year.
Security fears lead firms to turn off collaboration features
A new study by Theta Lake of businesses in the financial services sector finds that 83 percent of respondents are turning off key productivity and usability features of collaboration platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex.
This is due to their organizations' technical inability to adhere to relevant regulatory compliance and security requirements.
New cryptography solution aims for 'cyber herd immunity'
Increased reliance on digital systems and remote workforces has drastically increased the attack surface threatening to compromise organizations.
Encrypting information is part of the solution but is still vulnerable if keys fall into the wrong hands. Now though Australian deep tech cybersecurity start-up Tide Foundation has come up with a decentralized solution that offers the promise of 'cyber herd immunity'.
How to get your business ransomware ready [Q&A]
Taking proactive measures like updating and patching systems promptly and undertaking penetration testing improves the ability to withstand a targeted attack.
But when security teams are flooded with non-critical alerts 'vulnerability fatigue' can set in. We spoke to Amitai Ratzon, CEO of penetration testing specialist Pentera, to find out how enterprises can avoid this and improve their ransomware readiness.
Finance tasks top the list of processes companies want to automate
Pretty much any business workflow can be automated, but which ones do enterprise executives say are the most important and deliver the greatest value?
A new report from automation specialist Kofax shows that tasks relating to financial transactions top most lists, with accounts payable automation top on 85 percent.
Unification of tech is key to improving enterprise defense
A news report shows that 71 percent of security leaders say their teams need access to threat intelligence, security operations data, incident response data, and vulnerability data.
Yet 65 percent of respondents find it very challenging to provide security teams with cohesive data access according to the study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cyware.
80 percent of CISOs will consider paying a ransom to recover data
A new survey of more than 250 CISO reveals that more than half have been hit by ransomware in the past year, with 69 percent saying it is likely they'll be successfully attacked at least once in the next year.
Those who were successfully hit by ransomware are more inclined to pay up, with 65 percent actually doing so. However, full recovery of data occurred only 55 percent of the time. When asked about willingness to pay, 13 percent say they definitely would, but only 20 percent say they definitely wouldn’t.
Dark web data is spreading faster than ever
Stolen data on the dark web is spreading 11 times faster today than it was six years ago, according to the latest study from Bitglass.
Breach data received over 13,200 views in 2021 compared to 1,100 views in 2015 -- a 1,100 percent increase. In 2015, it took 12 days to reach 1,100 link views -- in 2021, it takes less than 24 hours to pass that milestone.
IBM launches open source cloud guide for developers
Developers who want to build cloud applications should work on honing their open-source skills instead of only focusing on developing skills for a proprietary cloud, according to an O'Reilly survey commissioned by IBM last year.
Because every major cloud platform uses open-source software in its infrastructure, developing skills related to open technology makes developers more desirable to potential employers and helps them compete in hybrid environments.
Is it time to rethink data centralization to aid cybersecurity investigations? [Q&A]
Security Information and Events Management (SIEM) has become the keystone of many organizations' security strategies in recent years.
But is it effective? And in the era of greater cloud and SaaS use, is the time right for the concept of SIEM to undergo a radical rethink? Andrew Maloney, COO and co-founder at security investigation specialist Query.AI thinks it is. We spoke to him to learn more.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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