Article written by the AMCHAM DIGITAL COMMITTEE
“Nowadays we are living in a software-driven world: entertainment, communication, finances, politics, health and even dating – you just swipe to the right and voilà! you have a date! All that is driven and managed by software. We are moving towards a single digital global software-driven platform that will keep everyone interconnected. It is no longer the future but the present; everything suggests that this process is irreversible”.
(Angela Nickel, Founder and CEO of COMO Global S.A. and iBAN-X)
I would like to use the previous paragraph as the frame for explaining a cyberattack and the magnitude of its damaging potential.
When we realize we are living in a software-driven world, it becomes easier to understand that a major cyberattack has the potential of destroying every aspect of our daily life –from our social life online, to our banking and communications, and even our romantic life! The more we move forward technologically, the higher the risk we are facing.
What is then a cyberattack?
An attack, via cyberspace, targeting an enterprise’s use of cyberspace for the purpose of disrupting, disabling, destroying, or maliciously controlling a computing environment/infrastructure; or destroying the integrity of the data or stealing controlled information. any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted areas of the system without authorization, potentially with malicious intent. Depending on the context, cyberattacks can be part of cyber warfare or cyberterrorism. A cyberattack can be employed by sovereign states, individuals, groups, society, or organizations, and it may originate from an anonymous source. A product that facilitates a cyberattack is sometimes called a cyber weapon.
What causes a cyberattack?
A cyberattack is any action taken by cybercriminals with malicious goals in mind. Cybercriminals launch their attacks using one or more computers to strike other computers, networks, or information systems. A variety of methods can be used to launch a cyberattack, but the goals is commonly to: Steal data.
Prevalence of cyberattacks
In the first six months of 2017, two billion data records were stolen or impacted by cyberattacks, and ransomware[i] payments reached US$2 billion, double that in 2016. In 2020, with the increase of remote work as an effect of the COVID-19 global pandemic, cybersecurity statistics reveal a huge increase in hacked and breached data. The worldwide information security market is forecast to reach $170.4 billion in 2022 (paragraph taken from Wikipedia).
According to “Eight Cybersecurity Predictions to Brace For in 2022”, published in Forbes on January 25, 2022,
“One certainty is that cybersecurity issues are not going anywhere. In 2021, ransomware attacks plagued organizations across the globe and data breach continued to grow. From the Colonial Pipeline[ii] to the JBS beef plants[iii] attacks are happening with alarming regularity. It is clear that no industry is immune from the threat and, as the speed of digital transformation continues to accelerate, cybersecurity woes will continue to escalate in 2022 and beyond.”
The 8 predictions are the following:
- Ransomware: government lends a hand.
- Attacks on shipping and transportation increase.
- Insurance premiums soar.
- Open banking opening up vulnerabilities.
- Gig economy 2.0: hackers for hire.
- Time’s up for Telcos and Identity Verification.
- Band-aid solutions cause slow security bleed.
- Focus on data privacy to expose ATO (Account Takeover).
The hackers-for-hire is emerging as a prime security threat, and it shows no sign of abating given the success of recent ransomware attacks. Heading into 2022, the article warns us: expect to see more mercenary-driven attacks and more creative strategies for recruiting contract hackers, such as the Russian Group that created a fake company to recruit IT specialists.
Another opinion piece in Forbes (January 6, 2022), “Predicting What 2022 Holds for Cybersecurity” is telling us that The Cybersecurity Talent Drought Will Get Much Worse, by claiming that at one point in 2021, there were 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the US. That is a figure that is likely to increase due to the continued growth of ransomware, data breaches, and other cyberattacks.
The said article points to 10 predictions I am finding it worthy of mentioning them briefly
- The cybersecurity talent drought will get much worse.
- Supply chain cyberattacks be commoditized.
- the death and rebirth of cyber insurance.
- More Smart devices, more Risk.
- Cyberattacks will cost lives.
- Shift events will put disaster into the forefront again.
- machine learning/AI Tools continue changing the game for Cybersecurity.
- More cybercriminals in the slammer.
- Tables will turn: Cybercrime will hit international companies in China and Russia.
- Quantum computing to make a debut[iv]
It is obvious that we are not in a safe situation and the entire world is facing a constant and permanent threat while cybercrime is rampant, and the threats do not discriminate. Therefore, nobody is immune to the risk of a breach.
Conclusion
To conclude, I would like to briefly introduce the concept of Hybrid warfare: is a theory of military strategy, first proposed by Frank Hoffman, which employs political warfare and blends conventional warfare, irregular warfare, and cyberwarfare with other influencing methods, such as fake news, diplomacy, lawfare and foreign electoral intervention. By combining kinetic operations with subversive efforts, the aggressor intends to avoid attribution or retribution. Hybrid warfare can be used to describe the flexible and complex dynamics of the battlespace requiring a highly adaptable and resilient response.
In the context of political violence, cyberattacks fit into the frame of the hybrid wars. In our vulnerable software-driven world it is not unusual then, that during the recent invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of computers were hit by a massive data-wiping software[v].
It is thus, our responsibility to have a proactive and predictive approach to manage the cyber-risk we are facing. We have the potential to change our cybersecurity methods, to identify the vulnerability of the emerging technologies, launch controlled attacks and test our defenses. We must protect ourselves by structuring a strong cybersecurity protection like firewalls, anti-virus software and intrusion detection systems. The best approach is not only adopting a comprehensive security approach to every level of the IT stack, but also include all business processes in that approach.
[i] Ransomware is malware designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their computer. By encrypting these files and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key, these malware place organizations in a position where paying the ransom is the easiest and cheapest way to regain access to their files.
[ii] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/politics/pipeline-hack.html
[iii] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/business/meat-plant-cyberattack-jbs.html
[iv] “This one has been building for a while now, but this should finally be the year that quantum computing debuts in the cybersecurity world. We are talking about actual quantum computing, not the marketing type of quantum-like features.
the breakthrough will be small at first but expect to see products that can take advantage of the peculiar properties of quantum mechanics to do things like factor large numbers very quickly or break current cryptography within few years. This could also present a serious challenge to today’s security protocols and necessitate a wholesale rethinking of how we protect our data.” (Emil Sayegh, President and CEO of Ntirety, a comprehensive compliant security firm).
[v] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-government-foreign-ministry-parliament-websites-down-2022-02-23/
[1] Ransomware is malware designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their computer. By encrypting these files and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key, these malware place organizations in a position where paying the ransom is the easiest and cheapest way to regain access to their files.
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/politics/pipeline-hack.html
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/business/meat-plant-cyberattack-jbs.html
[4] “This one has been building for a while now, but this should finally be the year that quantum computing debuts in the cybersecurity world. We are talking about actual quantum computing, not the marketing type of quantum-like features.
the breakthrough will be small at first but expect to see products that can take advantage of the peculiar properties of quantum mechanics to do things like factor large numbers very quickly or break current cryptography within few years. This could also present a serious challenge to today’s security protocols and necessitate a wholesale rethinking of how we protect our data.” (Emil Sayegh, President and CEO of Ntirety, a comprehensive compliant security firm).
