Q . WHY IS THERE SO MUCH STRESS AND PRESSURE PLACED ON THE C-SUITE , AS WELL AS THE FEAR FELT BY THOSE WHOSE DECISION IT IS TO PAY RANSOM DEMANDS ?
» The cyber-threat landscape has grown exponentially , and the task of protecting networks against sophisticated cyber-attacks becomes increasingly difficult . Ultimately , the pressure felt by cybersecurity professionals has resulted in them not only leaving their employer , but the industry itself .
Deep Instinct ’ s research has shown that 49 % of UK professionals have considered quitting the industry due to stress , with the unrelenting threat from ransomware and the fear of the next supply chain attack the primary factor . Compounding the situation , nearly half felt their stress had measurably increased over the last 12 months .
It is not only the fear of when an attack will come , but the pressures exerted when a ransomware attack hits . When ransomware attacks breach an organisation ’ s network , correct decision-making is crucial – it can be the difference between an enterprise surviving a cyberattack unscathed or it costing millions . This pressure normally ends up falling into the laps of C-suites and security leaders , and , unfortunately , not all can handle the pressure .
“ AI HAS PROVEN TO BE AN EXTREMELY USEFUL TOOL IN SHIFTING AN ORGANISATION ’ S MINDSET TOWARDS PREVENTION-FIRST ”
Q . HOW CAN ORGANISATIONS STOP A CYCLE OF STRESS AND PREVENT THEMSELVES FROM BECOMING THE VICTIMS OF RANSOMWARE ATTACKS IN THE FIRST PLACE ?
» Clearly , the mindset of reacting to and mitigating cyberattacks is not working – ransomware attacks are continuing to grow in number , and this is pushing people away from the cybersecurity industry . EDR tools that work on a reactive and mitigation approach are increasingly being evaded by the latest malware and techniques used by threat actors , and these solutions alone are therefore not enough to guarantee protection against such attacks .
As such , organisations should flip their mindset by looking to prevent ransomware attacks : having a preventionfirst cybersecurity strategy means that security teams are able to stop ransomware attacks before they encrypt files and data . This would immediately lift the stress off security teams , as they would no longer feel like sitting ducks waiting for the inevitable ransomware attack to hit and wouldn ’ t have the pain of trying to recover their stolen data .
Once there is acceptance , you then need to start implementing solutions that will help encourage a prevention-first strategy .
AI has proven to be an extremely useful tool in shifting an organisation ’ s mindset towards prevention-first . There is a consensus among cybersecurity professionals that AI-enabled tools are highly effective against sophisticated ransomware attacks .
Our research has backed this claim up , with 47 % agreeing that “ they need greater automation through AI / ML to improve security operations ”, and 79 % saying they would rather depend on AI than humans to hunt threats . cybermagazine . com 23