The threat in Germany's cyberspace is "tense to critical" and "higher than ever before," summarizes the BSI in its current 2023 management report. Those responsible for security must now draw conclusions from the findings and adapt and optimize previous security concepts.
Not only will the topic of ransomware pose major challenges in the coming months, but also the trend topic of the year: artificial intelligence. Joseph Carson, Delinea's Chief Security Scientist and Advisory CISO, looks at five trends and developments in cybersecurity for 2024:
- Attack and defense with AI: Beat attackers with your own weapons – this also works with AI. We are already seeing cybercriminals increasingly using artificial intelligence to automate and improve their attacks. In response, cyber defenses will also increasingly rely on AI and machine learning to detect threats and automate incident response, creating a constant battle of algorithms.
- Cyber insurance: The high financial risks that cyber attacks now pose for companies make cyber insurance more attractive than ever. But insurance companies also have to protect themselves from the increased risk and adapt their offers to the threat situation. This means that both premiums and cybersecurity maturity requirements for companies will increase.
- Geopolitical tensions in cyberspace: Geopolitical tensions will continue to spill over into cyberspace, leading to state-sponsored cyber espionage and disruptive attacks. Cybersecurity professionals must stay aware of and respond to evolving geopolitical threats.
- AI compliance: Data protection regulations such as the GDPR and the CCPA have paved the way for stricter data protection requirements in recent years. And more regions and countries are expected to introduce similar regulations, expanding the scope of compliance requirements for companies that handle personal data. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will play an increasingly important role in cybersecurity compliance in the future. For example, these technologies will be used to automate threat detection, analyze massive data sets for compliance violations, and provide real-time insights, making it easier for companies to stay compliant.
- Passwordless authentication with passkeys: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) will become a standard requirement for most online services and applications in the coming year. Traditional methods like SMS-based MFA will decline in favor of more secure options like time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) generated by authentication apps. In general, the trend towards passwordless authentication will continue as passkeys, which can be used with biometric identifiers, hardware tokens or mobile devices, become increasingly important as a more convenient and secure method of accessing accounts and systems. Nonetheless, these methods will not completely replace passwords any time soon, as organizations have many legacy systems and applications that need to be compatible for many years to come.
About Delinea Delinea is a leading provider of Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions that enable seamless security for modern, hybrid businesses. Our solutions enable organizations to secure critical data, devices, code and cloud infrastructure to reduce risk, ensure compliance and simplify security. Delinea removes complexity and redefines access for thousands of customers worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. Our customers range from small businesses to the world's largest financial institutions, organizations and critical infrastructure companies.