Tag: Multifactor Authentication (MA)

In my previous article, I highlighted that cyber threat intelligence (CTI) offers improved visibility into overall network threats and informs decision-makers how to prioritise security around potential targets and threats. We have created relevant, timely and actionable threat intelligence for more than 20 years.

As we start a new year, it's become a tradition to mull over the worst passwords of the previous 365 days. A quick search of news articles on the topic reveals the usual culprits: 123456, 654321, qwerty and such still reign supreme as the most-used passwords.

Even prior to the pandemic, organisations had begun putting in place elements to manage distributed employees whether that be through corporate remote desktop or virtual private networking (VPN) capabilities. However, this was not done at the scale and at a rate required to manage the disruption caused by COVID-19.

As the level of cyber threats rises every year, driving awareness around protection on Global Computer Security Day and beyond is crucial. The last 12 months saw the highest level of cyber incidents ever: a 40% surge in attacks worldwide, with the frequency in South Africa far above the global average.

The pandemic forced everyone to spend more time online than they did before. This was out of necessity because of remote working and the need to buy services and products online. A global collective of highly sophisticated networks of criminals are aware of this larger, captive online audience, and they have innovated and stepped up both the frequency and the complexity of their attacks.

Cybercrime has risen exponentially since the start of the global pandemic. While no security is full proof, crafting a security posture with multiple layers, built on the basic tenets of cybersecurity is certainly a good start. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber attacks have been on the increase on a global scale, inflicting financial losses across all sectors including manufacturing, banking, and energy, to name a few.

Results of our new Incident Response Analytics Report demonstrate that just implementing an appropriate patch management policy decreases the risk of incidents by 30%, and a robust password policy reduces the likelihood of being attacked by 60%.

Cybersecurity for small business has come to the fore as more Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) shifted towards digitalisation to survive in the unstable by COVID-19 circumstances. Yet, shockingly, according to research from IBM and the Ponemon Institute released in 2020, a whopping two out of five companies in the United States and the United Kingdom with 50 or fewer employees do not have any type of cybersecurity defence plan in place.