The Dawn Of A Cyber Safety Era Through A Unified Cyber Security Solution

The Dawn Of A Cyber Safety Era Through A Unified Cyber Security Solution

With organizations today adopting SaaS applications and AI, the digital landscape can be likened to a double-edged sword. It is evident that while these solutions offer digital convenience, they come at a hidden cost – increased exposure to cyber risks. In 2023, identity-based attacks surged by 75% and in 2024 alone, data breaches cost businesses an average of $4.88 million, according to Security Intelligence. Investigations show that these attacks were malware-free and occurred primarily due to cloud misconfigurations and the ever-increasing complexity of the cloud landscape.

Recent cyber incidents – like the massive MOVEit and Okta breaches in 2023 – highlight the ever-present risks firms face and the growing necessity of investing in advanced cyber security to level up to the challenge. Organizations globally depended on MOVEit for secure file sharing; but attacks found and exploited a critical vulnerability affecting almost 100 million organizations and individuals, becoming the largest cyber breach of 2023. This zero-day vulnerability involved stealing confidential data, critically impacting several thousands of businesses, including the United States Department of Energy. Though not a traditional identity-based attack like phishing or credential theft, it indirectly involved identity-related risks – such as privilege escalation and potential misuse of credentials once access was obtained. Meanwhile, an identity-based attack targeting Okta’s identity and access management systems compromised customer support systems and sensitive session tokens. Cyber attackers launched a phishing and social engineering campaign, stealing employees' credentials and bypassing the multi-factor authentication. These clever attacks show how security measures, albeit advanced, can still fail if not monitored closely, impacting overall resilience.

The attack surface of the digital environment is quickly expanding, with cyber attackers evolving with technology by leveraging AI and exploiting end-to-end and SaaS vulnerabilities, such as misconfigurations and invisibility. These increasingly scalable and sophisticated threats challenge businesses to secure their digital ecosystems effectively. To stay ahead, organizations must adopt advanced, proactive cyber security measures and technologies. Vendors are making moves to address this need, such as CrowdStrike’s acquisition of Adaptive Shield. This acquisition aims to deliver a unified, end-to-end solution against identity-based attacks in modern cloud ecosystems by providing real-time SaaS application monitoring, robust protection for user identities and sensitive data, rapid threat detection, improved response times across security domains, and enhanced visibility to prevent breaches and unauthorized access.

As long as the threat remains, Verdantix expects to see more movement in this space to meet customer demand. To stay updated on the latest developments, please subscribe to the Verdantix risk management newsletter.