We continue to try to alert our clients about the changing threat landscape in cybersecurity. We keep saying how the threats are becoming more and more sophisticated and more and more frequent, and that companies must acknowledge and address the threat as a high priority.

Cisco publishes cybersecurity reports that outline the threats to businesses and information relating to the techniques used to compromise data systems.

In its midyear Cybersecurity Report, released yesterday (September 6, 2017), the similarities between our alerts and its findings are sobering. In its Executive Summary, Cisco states “[W]ith this latest report,…we find we must raise our warning flag even higher. Our security experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the accelerating pace of change—and yes, sophistication—in the global cyber threat landscape.”

In particular, the Report concludes that adversaries are now locking down systems and destroying data as an attack strategy. The researchers opine that “a new devastating type of attack that is likely to emerge in the near future is Destruction of service (DeOS). The researchers also comment that in the past year, attackers have used Internet of Things (IoT) devices in DDOS attacks, and therefore, attackers are preparing for a “wide-reaching, high-impact attack that could potentially disrupt the Internet itself.”

The Report also concludes that malicious actors are exploiting security gaps and vulnerabilities because IT systems have become so complex with cloud computing, mobile devices, IoT, and other technological advances that IT professionals are unable to protect the entire environment from sophisticated attacks.

The Report is scary, but an essential read for IT professionals and C-Suite executives responsible for cybersecurity in their organization.

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