New analysis shows that the combination of phishing, email, remote access, and compromised accounts are the focus for most threat actors. Data across the industry corroborates new findings in cyber risk advisory and response firm Kroll’s just-released Q4 2023 Cyber Threat Landscape Report. But what’s interesting in this report is how the data tells a story of where organizations are falling short in their preventative efforts.

Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept but a tool that is driving operational efficiency, customer experience, and decision-making processes. Organizations are observing its transformative power firsthand across various industries and organizational aspects.

A joint cybersecurity advisory published last week discusses ransomware attack impacts on healthcare, along with ALPHV’s attack techniques, indicators of compromise (IoCs) and proper response actions. ALPHV is a big enough problem that Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) all are getting together to put healthcare organizations on notice.

New analysis of incident data shows threat actors are evolving their attack techniques to take advantage of budget and resource-strapped small businesses. We’ve seen industry data showing that cybercriminals have been slowly creeping downward from solely going after enterprises to targeting the SMB.

Social engineering and phishing are involved in 70% to 90% of all successful cybersecurity attacks. No other initial root hacking cause comes close. This is not a recent development. Social engineering has been the number one type of attack since the beginning of networked computers. Despite this long-time fact, most organizations do not spend 3% of their IT/IT Security budget to fight it.

Business email compromise (BEC) attacks surged by 246% last year, according to researchers at ReliaQuest.The researchers believe the increase is due to widely available phishing kits that facilitate BEC.

With QR-code phishing attacks on the rise, new data sheds light on just how unprepared organizations actually are in stopping and detecting these device-shifting attacks. One of the challenges with attacks is that we rely on security solutions to look for indicators of malicious intent. Content within an email, where a link points to, and the insides of an attachment can indicate potential foul play.

Scammers are using AI technology to assist in voice phishing (vishing) campaigns, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns. Generative AI tools can now be used to create convincing imitations of people’s voices based on very small audio samples. “At work, you get a voicemail from your boss,” the BBB says. “They instruct you to wire thousands of dollars to a vendor for a rush project. The request is out of the blue. But it’s the boss’s orders, so you make the transfer.

Data trends show a clear upward momentum of posts from initial access brokers on the dark web, putting the spotlight on what may become cybersecurity’s greatest challenge. Any organization that has made cybersecurity a priority is laser focused on putting preventative measures, multiple means of detection, and a response plan in place.

As cybercriminals leverage tools like generative AI, making attacks easier to execute and with a higher degree of success, phishing attacks continues to increase in frequency. I’ve been covering the cybercrime economy’s use of AI since it started. I’ve pointed out the simple misuse of ChatGPT when it launched, the creation of AI-based cybercrime platforms like FraudGPT, and how today’s cybercriminal can basically create foolproof malicious content.