According to CNBC, as cyberattacks continue to evolve hackers are increasingly finding ways to obtain personal information and then threatening to leak it. Recently, company executives’ phones have become a prime target to then steal customer and employee information.
Data extortion is becoming the preferred method for cyberattackers. Traditionally, a ransomware attack would encrypt or delete data and demand a ransom to revert the damage. However, it’s now become much more common for customer or employee data to be stolen and hackers will threaten to leak it.
Cybersecurity Landscape
The International Data Corporation have predicted that organizations will spend $219 billion on cybersecurity this year. This highlights just how important cybersecurity is to any business. We can also see the change in the data and privacy landscape in the number of privacy laws being adopted around the world. In the last few weeks, three states in the US have signed their own new Act into law. Governments are ensuring that consumers and employees are protected.
OpenAI recently admitted that they had suffered a data breach which gave unauthorized access to chat histories, payment information and addresses of users. While OpenAI patched the leak within a matter of hours, once personal information has been accessed then it’s there for a hacker to use however they want. We also recently talked about the privacy concerns surrounding ChatGPT.
Changes in Business Priorities
Historically, security budgets prioritized corporate devices and the buildings they were in. Then the pandemic hit and the majority of work was moved into our homes. Once people move onto personal devices or connect a corporate device to a home network then it becomes a lot easier to gain access. And just one vulnerable device then opens up the whole corporate network.
The last few years have seen drastic changes in not just cyberattacks, but how businesses approach cybersecurity. Increasingly, stolen credentials are a quick and easy way for hackers to gain access to information, as we recently saw with NextGen.
While it can sound like a dire outlook for the future of cybersecurity, there are positives to take away. The change in the approach of hackers shows that cyber professionals have made things difficult enough that hackers have had to take a new approach. Being ready and prepared for security issues puts a business one step ahead. Find out how Value Privacy can help your business ensure your security practices are effective.
Value Privacy’s experts are on hand to make sure that you and your company aren’t caught out by new or existing privacy laws.
You can find out more about the services we offer or just get in touch with us directly with any questions you have about how privacy laws impact you.
