IT Trends & Technology

Persistent security breaches, new investments in hardware, and a growing demand for cloud services are the primary drivers behind ongoing increases in IT security spending, according to a recent industry forecast.

In 2019, expenditures for security products are expected to reach $124 billion, up almost 9 percent from the $114 billion allocated for 2018. Recent high-profile attacks like Equifax, WannaCry, and Yahoo, to name a few, have prompted businesses to take a good, hard look at their security vulnerabilities and their abilities to detect and respond to increasingly crafty cyberthreats.

Research indicates that cybercrime damages will total $6 trillion a year by 2021—more than double the cost of just a few years ago. Part of that total comes from the growing success of ransomware schemes, which cost about $5 billion a year, up from just $325 million in 2015. These chilling stats point to one reality: Effective IT security measures are growing more important with every passing year.

As overall IT budgets grow tighter, it becomes more challenging to improve IT security. In a recent IBM security study polling more than 2,800 IT and security professionals, 69 percent reported that funding for cyber resiliency is insufficient.

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According to the Cisco 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report, ransomware is growing at a yearly rate of 350 percent. That type of growth means that businesses face a scenario where it’s just a matter of time before they are dealing with ransomware. One way to protect an organization is to develop a sound data backup and recovery strategy.

The use of public and private clouds is now a cornerstone of an enterprise’s ability to innovate and operate with agility in an evolving business landscape. The challenge has been maximizing that ability while minimizing costs, vendor lock-in, and security issues that are inherent to the public cloud at scale.

Healthcare data is increasingly under attack. In October alone there were 27 healthcare data breaches reported to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, resulting in the exposure of some 71,377 records.

To understand how to best counter these threat, we’ll take a look at some recent breaches, review key best practices, and explore the rise of Artificial Intelligence as a cyber remedy.

Have you suspected that cyberattacks on businesses are increasing in sophistication? A 2017 report confirms that success via these malicious events stems from three primary factors:

When technology analysts look back on the Equifax hack, they may well see a turning point in cybersecurity.

It’s one thing when a major retailer like Target gets hacked. Certainly breaches in government agencies raise concern. But Equifax is a credit reporting agency. It’s exact function is to safeguard the kind of sensitive personal data hackers are looking to steal.

Did you know that 81 percent of hacking-related breaches were aided by a combination of stolen and weak passwords? The 2017 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report also shows that 62 percent of breaches featured hacking, while more than half (51%) were driven by malware.

According to a holiday shopping projection from CMO, the 2017 holiday season will be the first to break $100 billion in online sales.

With credit card numbers and personal information being shared through web browsers and mobile and work devices, it is important for people to be vigilant when making their holiday purchases to avoid becoming a victim of cybercrime.

Traveling for the holidays? The Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holiday periods are the busiest long-distance travel periods of the year, and we often rely on technology to stay connected and entertained while we’re away. With cybercrime hitting an all-time high, there are security measures you’ll want to consider taking before hitting the road or the friendly skies to ensure your identity isn’t compromised through your smartphone, tablet, laptop and charging devices.

You can utilize the following holiday travel safety reminders to help protect your tech while you’re on the go:

The days of storing personal, health and business records on paper, tucked away in a locked filing cabinet are gone. More organizations are making the digital transformation as a more efficient way to access and share information online, in servers and in the cloud.

It’s easy to get lulled into thinking that just because IT systems are compliant with regulations, that means they are secure. After all, compliance is intended to safeguard data and ensure privacy. Security seems like the natural outcome and many organizations fall into a false sense of comfort, believing that just because they have checked all the boxes on compliance, their systems must therefore be secure.

Did you know that HIPAA settlement payments reached record levels in 2016, totaling nearly $23 million? Of that group, seven healthcare organizations were on the hook for more than $1.5 million each.