Will the 2025 deadline for implementing the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) lead to a significant improvement in our cyber security, or will it merely serve as a Band-Aid solution for a larger problem? As we approach this pivotal year, it is crucial that organizations take proactive steps to ensure compliance and safeguard their digital assets from emerging threats. Frequent cyberattacks include phishing attempts, ransomware attacks, and data breaches. Industries particularly targeted are healthcare, finance, and retail, as they possess sensitive information that can be exploited for financial gain or personal data. The Sophos experts have compiled what they consider to be the six most crucial traits for the upcoming year.
As more companies safeguard their devices with Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and the adoption of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) increases, ransomware attackers are increasingly targeting cloud resources that typically lack MFA. In place of passwords, criminals now demand authentication tokens and browser cookies as the prize.
Methods employed by sophisticated cybercriminals are often leveraged as training data on various AI platforms known for their conversational capabilities (GenKI). This implies that certain cybercriminal activities have been democratized, enabling low-skilled, opportunistic attackers to easily create, for instance, a phishing lure or ransomware code with minimal effort. Despite their limited effectiveness, these amateur attacks still contribute to the diversion of defenders’ resources by sheer volume, creating an opening for professional attackers to exploit.
Criminals increasingly employ diversion tactics to conceal their primary objectives and create chaos and confusion in the defense process. Smaller attacks can tie up reaction resources and lead to a decrease in the overall effectiveness of the defense system. This imbalance between good and evil ultimately arises even with well-established cyber security measures.
Cybercriminals increasingly incorporate attacks on the software supply chain into their strategies, with far-reaching consequences that transcend individual enterprises and have a profound impact on global commerce. To build maximum pressure and bolster their ransom demands by lending added weight to the extortionate sums, they intend to create an intense atmosphere of urgency.
Cybercriminals are capitalizing on the current trend of chaining language models together to create more sophisticated tasks, ultimately exploiting vulnerabilities and imperfections in these interconnected systems. Instead of relying solely on a single large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT to write a code line, cybercriminals can now combine multiple LLMs to tackle more extensive projects such as
Exploitation following a successful corporate infiltration is no longer a one-way process. Attackers are increasingly opting for a “double-dip” approach. When they steal cryptocurrencies, they also pilfer cookies or identification documents to use for further criminal activities?