The challenges that the global business community has faced in the last few years have been unprecedented. A pandemic, inflation, an energy crisis, war, an economic downturn, and fragmented and delayed supply chains have all created issues for organizations and have left no industry, market, or region untouched. Yet, despite these issues, our digital ecosystems and footprint grow ever bigger and increasingly complex. The global digital transformation market was worth $731.13 billion in 2022, and it is now expected to grow at a CAGR of 26.7% by 2030, driven in the main by businesses trying to gain a competitive advantage.

With the 5th anniversary of GDPR looming, this regulation continues to be a game-changer, setting the precedent for privacy and data laws around the world. In fact, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently reported that 71% of countries now have data protection regulations in place and a further 9% have legislation in development. Countries such as Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have recently introduced new privacy laws. But, as we reflect on the anniversary of GDPR's introduction, just this week we've seen the first billion-dollar fine issued. So, what does this mean for data privacy moving forward?

The cybersecurity landscape has changed almost beyond recognition. Cyber attacks, have grown into an inescapable facet of our daily lives. Everyone, from the world's most powerful people to general consumers, live under the spectre of cyberattacks. Cyberattacks also creep into the military sphere, with the threat of all-out cyber warfare looming large over conflicts across the globe.

Intelligence is now considered essential to the process of identifying, understanding and acting upon threats. According to the "Global Perspectives on Threat Intelligence" study conducted by Mandiant, 96% of decision-makers interviewed for the research believe that it is important to understand which cyber threat actors could be targeting their organisation. Consequently, threat Intelligence should be fully integrated into the internal mechanisms linked to threat detection and response.

Ransomware attacks are one of the biggest threats that CIOs and their teams face today. The impact of a ransomware attack can be daunting, crippling business operations and causing significant financial losses.

Password managers have become popular solutions for businesses and individuals seeking to improve the password security of their accounts. The implementation of password management solutions within organisations has enabled security teams to securely store and manage company credentials for online and offline applications by using advanced encryption.

Anyone who works on application security knows developers are inseparable from AppSec programs. Even so, the hardest part is figuring out how to get security on their agenda and actively involve them in preventing and managing vulnerabilities. Only with their buy-in and active involvement, it is possible to scale an application security program to the level desired by AppSec teams, especially in large enterprises where developers way outnumber security engineers.

Imaging a machine with the relevant OS and disk partitions is the first step involved in OS deployment. You can either image machines that are online with applications running or machines that are shutdown. In this section we will discuss the five best practices to be followed while imaging.