4 Reasons Cybersecurity Attack Surfaces Are Expanding

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted individuals and businesses all over the world in one way or another. Almost overnight, it disrupted the way people went about their daily routines and how companies operated. Amidst all the chaos, changes to the cyber landscape with increased attack surfaces at an unprecedented pace. Some of the trends that powered these changes and continue to fuel them are:

Increased Use of Internet of Things (IoT) – About 56 federal agencies in the U.S. reported using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. In 2021, experts expect the number of connected devices to reach 10.07 billion.

Rapid Adoption of the Cloud – Global public cloud end-user expenditure is expected to grow by over 18% in 2021.

Digital Transformation – IT spending is expected to hit $3.9 trillion in 2021. Spending on digital transformation technologies increased from $1 trillion in 2018 to $2.39 trillion in 2021.

Work-From-Home Model – Over 70% of all departments and teams are expected to have remote workers by 2028. With expanding attack surfaces comes cyber crime. According to an FBI report, cyber attacks have skyrocketed by over 400% since the start of the pandemic, making it imperative to identify and deflate cyber threats for the health and future of your business.

Growing Cybersecurity Risks

Targeted Ransomware Attack
Ransomware attacks have long been a nuisance to businesses. Experts have estimated that about 10% of breaches reported in 2021, so far, involved ransomware. The success of this mode of attack is attributed to the simplicity with which an attacker can wreak havoc. It should worry everyone that ransomware kits are inexpensively available on the dark web. Ransomware propagators are constantly devising new plans to evade defenses set by businesses. Without precautionary measures in place, SMBs could find themselves at risk.

Phishing Attacks
Phishing uses social engineering in email and cloud services attacks. Phishing attacks can lead to account takeover, credential theft and more. According to one report, phishing attacks increased by 11% in 2021 alone. Malicious actors using phishing scams as their method of attack are cunning enough to tilt every global event to their advantage. For example, when the pandemic started, phishing emails were sent out to the masses in the name of the World Health Organization (WHO). Later, when vaccines were rolled out, scam emails had a vaccine company’s name as the sender.

Fileless Attacks
A fileless attack aims to exploit the features and tools of a victim’s environment. It doesn’t depend on file-dependent payloads nor does it generate a new file. This leaves no footprint and makes fileless attacks very hard to detect. A fileless attack is reported to be 10 times more successful than a file-based attack. Fileless attacks can originate through an email that directs you to a malicious website. From there, using social engineering tactics, the cyber criminal can use system tools (such as PowerShell) to distribute payloads and execute commands. Since these system tools are part of your IT environment, the threat can evade outdated security systems.

Insider Threats
Shockingly, close to 20% of breaches involve internal actors. The problem with insider threats is that they’re often the toughest to detect.

The most common causes of inside incidents are:

– Negligent employees or contractors – 62%
– Criminal or malicious insiders – 23%
– Credential theft – 14%

6 Tips on How to Stay Protected

1. Keep your systems updated and safe from cyber attacks that exploit known software vulnerabilities by automating patch and vulnerability management.
2. Ensure effective and quick recovery from cyber disruption by backing up your systems and SaaS applications.
3. Secure your systems by deploying advanced antivirus and anti-malware solutions that provide endpoint detection and response (EDR).
4. Make sure every new device has the necessary security tools such as a local firewall, DNS filtering, malware protection, multi-factor authentication (MFA) and disk encryption.
5. Always be ready with an incident response plan. No breach can shake you if you have a robust action plan. The plan should have a communication strategy with all stakeholders, including your investors and valued customers.
6. Provide regular security training to your employees and vendors.

You Can’t Protect What You Don’t Know Exists

As businesses adopt new technologies, cloud platforms, mobile devices, remote work solutions, and third-party services, their attack surface naturally expands. While these technologies create opportunities for growth and efficiency, they can also introduce new vulnerabilities that cybercriminals actively seek to exploit.

The most effective cybersecurity programs begin with visibility. Organizations that regularly assess their environments, identify weaknesses, review access controls, evaluate third-party risks, and monitor changes to their technology landscape are often better positioned to reduce risk before vulnerabilities become security incidents.

Cybersecurity is not about eliminating every possible threat. It is about understanding where your organization is exposed and taking practical steps to reduce the likelihood and impact of an attack.

The first step toward improving security is knowing where your greatest risks exist.

Do You Know Where Your Greatest Security Risks Exist?

Many organizations are unaware of security gaps, outdated systems, excessive permissions, shadow IT, and other vulnerabilities until a security incident exposes them. If you’re unsure where your organization may be vulnerable, schedule a free consultation with ITNS Consulting.

We’ll help evaluate your current environment, identify potential weaknesses, prioritize improvements, and develop a practical strategy for reducing risk and strengthening your cybersecurity posture.

Identify Risks Before They Become Security Incidents

As attack surfaces continue to expand, understanding your organization’s vulnerabilities becomes increasingly important.

Download our Risk & Vulnerability Assessment Checklist to evaluate your current environment, identify potential weaknesses, and take proactive steps to reduce cybersecurity risk before it affects your business.