According to the recent Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, 45% of breaches featured hacking in 2020. With high-value information such as user credentials and credit card information being stored on personal devices and transmitted freely online, hacking techniques have evolved to become more sophisticated than ever before.

‍Cybersecurity breaches have been on the rise, and it's expected that by 2023, they'll have grown to 15.4 million. While technological advancements have made it easy for organizations to upgrade their security measures, malicious hackers are now using sophisticated tools. This means that in addition to implementing strict cybersecurity policies, you also have to take proactive measures to reduce your cybersecurity risks.

The modern enterprise network is a complex, highly connected ecosystem of hardware, software, services, communication protocols, virtual resources, and people; who all work together to support business operations. IT networks are now the backbones of organizations everywhere, so cyberattacks aimed at breaking down network security are a huge threat for companies and stakeholders.

With the sharp increase in remote working worldwide, companies have endured a proliferation of cybersecurity risks — and, consequently, increased their spending to protect stakeholders. One factor that influences the level of corporate cybersecurity, and your effectiveness in mitigating cybersecurity threats, is the proper deployment of reactive and proactive cybersecurity measures.

Key risk indicators are important for every business. And while “KRIs” vary from one industry to the next — for example, what’s important for agribusiness is different from what’s important for pharmaceutical firms — no matter what the KRIs look like, they’re all instrumental for managing operational risk. Think of a key risk indicator as a pressure gauge measuring the amount of some risk your company has.

The U.S. Federal Government needs to improve its information security risk management policies to keep pace with the dynamic threats to Federal networks and supply chains.

According to recent research, 92 percent of large organizations use more than one cloud. The report also predicts that by the end of 2021, 55 percent of enterprise workloads will rely on a public cloud. Clearly cloud adoption is expanding, and will continue to do so into the future. Despite its prevalence, cloud computing can be a confusing concept.

Before this particular bit of news sails downstream, internal control professionals might want to note that an SEC commissioner spoke this week about the importance of internal controls for cybersecurity. She raised a few points worth considering. The remarks came from Caroline Crenshaw, a Democratic appointee to the Securities and Exchange Commission who, in my opinion, is something of a stalking horse for SEC policy.

NIST is the abbreviated name of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It’s one of many federal agencies under the U.S. Department of Commerce, and is one of the oldest physical science laboratories in the United States. The agency develops technology and security policies that help drive innovation in science and technology-related industries; and better prepares those industries to meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).

Last year, as most people were stuck at home, many of us became even more dependent on e-commerce sites than we were already. Unfortunately, that includes cybercriminals too. In 2020, scams targeting the checkout forms of online retailers rose by 20%, according to reports.