Identifying the adversaries of growing cyber threats

Cybersecurity, in today's hyper-connected world, has become a critical concern for organizations and individuals alike. With new threats constantly emerging and existing ones becoming more sophisticated, our increasing reliance on technology has opened unprecedented vulnerabilities and lead to cyber threats that can potentially collapse entire networks and compromise sensitive information.

Identifying and understanding the diverse range of these threats is paramount to developing effective defense strategies against them.

To begin with, the growing influence of attacks on an organization's network database cannot be undermined. According to a statistical report from a Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report in 2023, data breaches increased by over 11% compared to the previous year, with nearly 80% of attacks linked to external actors. This highlights the significant and persistent threat posed by external entities seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in organizational systems.

Aside from confidentiality breaches, the financial loss caused by Cybersecurity breaches cannot be undermined. Cybersecurity Ventures Report, a cyber research and media organization, predicts that cybercrime is expected to cause $10.5 trillion in damages by 2025, a sharp rise from $3 trillion in 2015.

This increase reflects the growing costs of data breaches, stolen funds, intellectual property theft, operational disruptions, and recovery efforts after attacks.

To curb this, it is crucial to identify the players who are adversely exploiting our reliance on technology for their personal gains, without thinking about the effects on their victims.

These adversaries include but are not limited to individuals such as script kiddies with limited technical skills who leverage readily available tools to launch attacks, and insiders, employees or contractors with legitimate system access who abuse their privileges for malicious purposes.

Social engineers, who manipulate human psychology to deceive victims into divulging sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security, also pose a significant threat. Furthermore, hacktivists, driven by ideological or political motives, employ cyberattacks to promote their agendas.

Cybercriminals, primarily motivated by financial gain, also engage in various cybercrimes, including ransomware and phishing.

Major players like Huawei in the technology industry are actively working to emphasize the importance of the cybersecurity landscape. Since it deliberately started its cyber security journey in 1999 when it published its first set of security technical regulations, the firm has constantly placed a strong emphasis on the security of its products and services. This has often included rigorous security testing, vulnerability assessments, and regular security updates to address potential threats.

However, to directly address cyber security threats, the tech giant has proactively established the Cyber Security Verification Lab, which is independent from its business, to conduct independent security testing on products and provide verification reports that fully detail the quality and security capability of its products.

In addition, this Lab is also open to customers and governments for them to validate the security of their products.

In an era where data is the new currency, securing information and systems is essential for survival. Given the diverse range of cyber threats, it’s crucial for governments, businesses, and individuals to include cybersecurity as a core part of their risk management strategy, especially as more devices and systems connect to the internet.