By Jim Klossner, Senior Director, Product Management and Software Development, ThinkOn
Part One in the New Digital Reality Series: Cybersecurity
I’m often asked how we keep ahead of hackers when designing our cybersecurity software at ThinkOn, and the answer is that we must outsmart them. That means looking to the future as well as the past when anticipating what our clients need. Since hackers are always pivoting, we design our solutions to help organizations pivot faster.
Preparing for battle
If you compare cybersecurity to warfare, similar patterns emerge that can help you gain an advantage against an attacker. For instance, in the history of every region, there was a time when towns and villages, and even countries, expected to be attacked. They put up defenses, built backup stores to withstand a siege, and planned counter-attack strategies to neutralize the enemy—because they knew that the enemy was always on its way.
In the digital world, hackers are the new pillagers, and they are clearly on the march. Statistics from the 2020 Cybersecurity Ventures report published in CIO confirm this upward trend: “In total, the global cost of cybercrime is skyrocketing, expected to grow 15 percent annually to hit the $10.5 trillion mark by 2025.”[1]
According to WIRED, 2023 is set to be one of the biggest years for one particularly damaging form of cybercrime: ransomware. “If this year’s pace of payments continues, according to [cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis’] data, the total figure for 2023 could hit $898.6 million. This would make 2023 the second biggest year for ransomware.”[2]
When you have something that others can turn to their own benefit, human nature dictates that someone will try to take it. Do you sit back and hope that time never comes? Or do you plan for the day when it does and protect what you’ve worked so hard to build?
Advanced warfare
When an attacker shows up with new weapons and advanced tactics, the defending army often loses the battle. The key to survival is to come back with an even better solution, so the defender has an opportunity to win the war. In a situation like that, you not only have to fight bravely, you have to fight smart.
Ransomware attacks, like the $40 million payout to Russian hackers by Chicago-based CNA Financial in 2022, have proven all too effective.[3] Cybercriminals are getting more brazen every day, and we have to be prepared for what they throw at us.
“What’s concerning is how much it [cybercrime] is diversifying and pivoting,” says SonicWall CEO Bob VanKirk in an interview with CRN. “It’s not like we can just focus in a few different areas and then think that we’ve got things addressed.”[4]
A cloud-smart solution anticipates future needs and helps prepare an organization for changing circumstances. By adding tools to help you monitor and evolve your digital landscape as your business grows and market conditions change, you can be ready to pivot when the need arises. In cybersecurity, things change rapidly. Your digital reality in the morning could be a whole new playing field by lunch.
A Smart Solution
Threat actors are more sophisticated than ever before. Their methods are harder to detect, and they rely on the effectiveness of a surprise attack to break through your defenses and steal your data. The best defense is to take surprise off the table. By anticipating an attack, you’re halfway to defending against it. Otherwise, you might sleep through the entire event—maybe for months—and never know what’s been taken until it’s too late.
Even paying a ransom might not save you from having your data exposed, and 28 percent of those who pay up to the hackers never recover their data.[5] As Bobby Cornwell, a vice president at SonicWall, says, “How much do you trust the guy that just stole your data?”[6]
The Fort Knox strategy to cloud computing
At ThinkOn, we use a cloud-smart approach to digital solutions to help organizations prepare for an attack, repel the enemy quickly, repair the breach, and recover what’s been lost while restoring operations in minutes. We call this the “Fort Knox” of data protection because we know that your data is as precious as gold, and we build strong walls to repel the enemy and safeguard your most precious asset.
Hackers are smart; there’s no getting around that, but we can get around them if we have the tools in place to detect their moves, stop them in their tracks, and get you up and running in no time. That’s how we do battle and help you win the war against cybercrime.
Learn more about how ThinkOn’s data experts can help you win the battle against cyberattack.
[1] Beth Stackpole. 2023. CIO. “Understanding the security shared responsibility model in an as-a-service world.” https://www.cio.com/article/463870/understanding-the-security-shared-responsibility-model-in-an-as-a-service-world.html
[2] WIRED. 2023. “Ransomware Attacks Are on the Rise, Again.” https://www.wired.com/story/ransomware-attacks-rise-2023/
[3]Josh Adams. 2023. Be(in)Crypto. “Top 10 Ransomware Attacks Leave Hackers with Nearly $70m in Bitcoin.” https://beincrypto.com/top-10-ransomware-attacks-70m-in-bitcoin/
[4] Kyle Alspach. 2023. CRN. “SonicWall: Ransomware Declines Further As Attackers ‘Pivot’ Their Tactics.” https://www.crn.com/news/security/sonicwall-ransomware-declines-further-as-attackers-pivot-their-tactics
[5] Ani Petrosyan. 2023. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/700894/global-ransom-payers-rate/
[6] Kyle Alspach. 2023. CRN. “SonicWall: Ransomware Declines Further As Attackers ‘Pivot’ Their Tactics.” https://www.crn.com/news/security/sonicwall-ransomware-declines-further-as-attackers-pivot-their-tactics