Spooky cyber threats that keep you awake

Ask any executive, and they will tell you that there is literally nothing is scarier than cyber-attacks. According to a survey conducted by PwC, 40% of respondents consider cyber-attacks to be their most critical business risk, and with good reason. Some estimates suggest that the average cost of a data breach is now almost $10 million.

Today, we're breaking down some of the chilling cybersecurity threats facing businesses to celebrate Halloween.

A recent study found that most security professionals believe they have been attacked at least once. From professional hackers and simple but dangerous human errors, here are some of the nightmares keeping IT managers awake at night.

Cybersecurity professionals are concerned about safeguarding their networks against attacks by insiders. Often, when it seems like an attack is coming from outside our network, it actually originates within our own environment. Many attacks happen because of simple human errors.

Unfortunately, this kind of human error is shockingly common. According to Verizon's 2022 Data Breaches Investigations Report, as much as 82% of data breaches had a human element.

Even worse, human error was the culprit in some of the most significant cybersecurity breaches on record, including those involving Anthem, Home Depot, Sony Pictures, and Target.

Cybersecurity professionals say two-thirds of them are having trouble keeping an eye on their users' activities when working remotely. In this scenario, threat actors may be allowed into enterprise networks from weaker public WIFI networks, and so on.

As we have seen in recent times, rapid digital transformations are occurring at an increasing rate within enterprises. Cloud computing, IoT, mobility, and various forms of collaboration tools drive these transformations.

The attack surface has increased with more devices connecting to more servers and resources. Consequently, most cybersecurity experts acknowledge that their visibility into user activity in non-traditional locations has decreased.

As many as 63% of cyber experts believe that ransomware is driving cybersecurity decisions. Like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers, one of the most infamous ransomware villains were thought to be "dead" for a moment, but they are back with a vengeance.

The ransomware resurgence was headlined by the resurrection of the infamous operations of REvil. Most known for paralyzing as many as 1500 organizations, REvil gave business and cybersecurity professionals nightmares for many years.

Then, suddenly, in 2021, REvil disappeared off the map. At the same, the reasons why it closed shop were unclear, with some claiming its operators had been captured. However, recently, amidst escalating tension between Russia and the US, high-profile attacks against Kaseya.

With new technology and tools, criminal organizations can now carry out more targeted attacks against their adversaries.

Cybersecurity experts say there's no scary statistic for this one. It's too frightening.

Many experts initially predicted that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would soon turn into an all-out online war.

Luckily, so far, most of those predictions haven't come true. However, as the war continues to increase losses on the battlefield and nations increase their rhetoric, fears of escalating cyber warfare suddenly carry alarming nuclear consequences. Russia has already carried out several cyber-attacks in Ukraine, sparking international fears of a catastrophic meltdown.

However, despite all the cybersecurity horror stories that lurked under our beds last year, there is still some reason for optimism. Organizations are increasingly adopting modern cybersecurity solutions and architectures specifically designed to prevent these threats.

If organizations keep taking threats seriously and improving their security posture, then there's a good chance that we can all survive the spooky holiday together.