Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic of discussion this year among tech and cybersecurity professionals and the wider public. With the recent advent and rapid advancement of a number of publicly available generative AI tools—ChatGPT, Dall-E, and others—the subject of AI is at the top of many minds. Organizations and individuals alike have adopted these tools for a wide range of business and personal functions.

2023 saw two concerning attacks on public water systems, highlighting the fragility and risk to utility systems. In Pennsylvania, malicious hackers breached the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa system the night after Thanksgiving. The criminals were making a political statement: the technology used to manage water pressure was developed by Israel, and the criminals used this opportunity to choose a side in the ongoing conflict.

When I attend a networking event and ask a business owner, “Who’s responsible for Information Security?” The usual reply is “IT”. But in today’s hyper-connected world, where digital landscapes are constantly evolving, and data breaches and cyberattacks are becoming alarmingly common, organizations must recognise that information security is not solely the responsibility of the IT department.

The dynamism of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming not only the tech landscape but also various sectors of human activity at breakneck speeds. Unfortunately, with any progress in technology, these advances aren’t only being applied in beneficial ways.

One of the most common factors that can lead to cybersecurity incidents is a security misconfiguration in software or application settings. The default settings that come with the implementation of these tools and solutions are often not configured securely, and many organizations do not invest the time and resources into ensuring that they are.

US federal agencies have teamed up to release a cybersecurity best practice guidance for the water and wastewater sector (WWS). The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have published the guide in an attempt to promote cybersecurity resilience and improve incident response in the WWS sector.

Imagine you’re on the tail end of installing a 100-line script. It’s five o’clock, and you’re ready to head out early for once. You run the startup script on a new server, and then – the fated error message. Something isn’t working, and only after painstakingly reviewing 67 lines of code do you realize you had the IP address wrong. This could have been prevented.

To most people, the process of logging into a Microsoft Windows machine is a simple process of entering a username and a password. However, for a cybersecurity professional, the process is a carefully orchestrated mechanism. Unfortunately, throughout the history of the various Windows operating system versions, criminals have also sought ways to disrupt this process in order to breach a network. The primary target of these attacks is the Security Account Manager (SAM).

In the digital-first era, the internet is not simply a luxury; it's a fundamental part of our daily lives. From business growth to personal connections, its impact is profound. However, this interconnectedness comes with a price: the rise of cybercrime. Exploring the 2023 Global Cybercrime Report, we uncover which countries face the highest risk and how this pervasive issue affects us all, no matter where we connect from.

Like every other industry, the healthcare sector is barely recognizable when compared to its state 20 years ago. It, too, has been transfigured by technology. While this has brought many impactful benefits, it has also introduced at least one major challenge: keeping sensitive patient information private.