The emergence of global digital trends seems to have paved the way for cybersecurity’s evolution, for now, and beyond. In 2023, it’s believed that businesses devised different ways to integrate cybersecurity measures into their structure. Organisations which associate their cybersecurity measures with business goals are 18% more expected to increase market share and revenue growth, along with bettering customer happiness, confidence and employee productivity, as per research by Accenture. “I believe the cybersecurity landscape underwent shifts in 2023. As AI-powered defence systems struggled with attacks, ransomware changed and shifted its focus to data theft. The reliance on cloud infrastructure has seemingly increased both risks and opportunities. Amid these challenges, the threat of quantum computing is believed to cast doubt on existing encryption methods. I think the most important lesson from 2023 is that cybersecurity is evolving,” Vinod K Singh, co-founder and CTO, Concirrus, a data and analytics platform, told FE TransformX.
From what it’s understood, 2023 has seen an upward trend in ransomware and extortion attacks. As per Allianz, a financial services company, the total count of worldwide ransomware victims increased as much as 143% during Q1, CY23, with January and February clocking the maximum number of cases in three years. The company also mentioned that ransomware itself will lead to total expenses worth $265 billion annually by 2031. Media reports suggest that hackers have increased their infiltrations of Information Technology (IT) and physical supply chains, with threat actors using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to develop better phishing schemes and malware. According to the 2023 Mid-Year Cyber Security Report by Check Point Research (CPR), Check Point’s threat intelligence unit, Q2, 2023, recorded an eight percent rise in international weekly cyberattacks, which portrayed cybercriminals combining generative AI features with Universal Serial Bus (USB) tools. Insights from the report also mentioned that AI has found its way into the prevention of cyberattacks, through scanning of unrevealed attack designs and other irregularities. However, data breach-oriented average expenses for 2023 became the highest recorded average at $4.45 million in 2023, as stated by International Business Machines (IBM), a technology corporation. Moreover, the corporation specified phishing was present in 41% of the attacks, which made it the highest-clocked cyberattack factor. “Despite an increase in the cybersecurity budget and initiatives, including a Rs 625 crore allocation, challenges are believed to have persisted. Ransomware attacks remained prevalent, affecting 78% of Indian organisations in 2021. The adoption of digitalisation and cloud infrastructure contributed to a roughly 8.3% increase in end-user spending on security and risk management. The integration of AI into cybersecurity solutions can become crucial for threat detection and incident response, given the sophistication of cyberattacks,” Sanjoy Paul, senior faculty – technology, Hero Vired, a digital learning platform, highlighted.
As for India, Cyfirma, a cybersecurity firm, unveiled the 2023 India Threat Landscape Report, which revealed that India is at the receiving end of the maximum number of cyberattacks, constituting 13.7% of global cyberattacks. ManageEngine, Zoho Corporation’s IT management unit, pointed out that in the 2023 first half, India faced different cybersecurity attacks, ranging from financial scams to data hacks. For example, the Odisha Economic Offences Wing made 60 arrests related to online hacks worth Rs 100 crore. In other developments, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sustained hacks conducted by a group called Phoenix, which comprised data from the Health Management Information System, while suspicious platforms convinced users to give away an amount of more than Rs 1,000 crore through crypto scams. One of the significant events of 2023 is believed to be the data breach on the CoWIN website, which compromised delicate information of vaccinated individuals, through Telegram. Reportedly, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of India, stated that around 36 websites of government agencies endured hacking attempts during the first two quarters of 2023, along with an approximate count of 1,12,474 cyberattacks and more than 4.29 lakh cybersecurity episodes related to financial platforms, as per data provided by CERT-In, a national nodal agency. However, with the initiation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, custodians have found the freedom to send personal information through cross-border transactions, with the Indian government emphasising on plans to set up the Data Protection Board. Accordingly, this step has focused on the need for corporations to create required data protection and privacy policy guidelines conferring to the act. Overall, market experts believe that the act is a major step for India’s digital landscape.
Going forward, in 2024, media reports suggest that AI will take up a more active role in sustaining the structure of predictive analytics. As per an official blog post of Google, the Google Cloud Cybersecurity Forecast 2024 has stressed on the need for nations to execute cyber operations to attain their geopolitical objectives. “In 2024 and beyond, I believe the cybersecurity industry will pivot towards AI-driven threat detection, quantum-safe encryption, and decentralised security models. Collaborative efforts are expected to intensify to stay ahead of threats. Adaptation, threat intelligence, and regulatory compliance should remain paramount, ensuring technology-driven platforms such as LOS, LMS, and CMS uphold security standards in the landscape of financial technology,” Vineet Tyagi, global CTO and head – India operations, Biz2X, a global Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, concluded.
