Ilia Sotnikov

Imagine if Santa’s workshop were brought down by a ransomware attack in December — children around the world would be disappointed. A multitude of holidays between Thanksgiving and New Year’s creates an optimal opportunity for cybercriminals, with government reports confirming an onslaught of cyberattacks during this period. This article explores how organizations can prepare for the annual surge in threats when the fiscal year is ending, workloads and stress are high, and fewer security professionals are available. The Consequences of Failing to Prepare In 2023, website attacks quadrupled from 15 million in early November to 60 million on Black Friday.…

Cybersecurity has become a critical concern for businesses of all sizes. With cyber threats becoming more sophisticated and frequent, the cost of cybersecurity breaches continues to rise dramatically. In fact, the Netwrix 2024 Hybrid Security Trends Report found that 79% of organizations spotted a cyberattack in their environment, up from 68% a year ago. Of those facing an attack, 45% incurred unplanned expenses. No company is immune. The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report highlights that 46% of all breaches impact small businesses, where the cost impact can cause even greater devastation. In light of these growing threats, it is imperative for organizations to strengthen…

2022 may be remembered as the year of increases. Increases in legislation, security standards, ransomware attacks and technology risks. With cyberattacks — specifically ransomware — on the consistent rise, IT teams and security professionals need to be more alert than ever before. As you look to the new year and evaluate your security posture here are six predictions to consider: 1. Legislation will increase as security incidents at private companies affect national security The impact of ransomware and other cyberattacks is no longer limited to just the victim company anymore; attacks are now affecting entire regions. For instance, attacks on…

The year 2020 definitely shook up the IT world. The urgent need to rely on distributed workforces forced organizations to accelerate their digital transformations and broadened the IT threat landscape. Looking closely at the ripple effects from 2020 it’s clear security pros won’t be able to yawn their way through 2021. Here are seven key trends that that will impact organizations in 2021 and beyond: 1. Ransomware will become more sophisticated and will affect the physical world. Ransomware will remain one of the most straightforward ways for cybercriminals to monetize a breach. Organizations will get better at thwarting attacks and…

More organizations now store and process personal data, which automatically makes them subject to GDPR and CCPA. Gartner estimates that “by 2023, 65% of the world’s population will have its personal data covered under modern privacy regulations, up from 10% today.”*  Moreover, individuals are becoming more aware of their rights. Therefore, we can expect a steep increase in data subject access requests (DSARs) across the globe. In fact, only 21% of CISOs said that they didn’t see any rise in DSARs in 2019, as stated by a recent Netwrix survey. If DSARs aren’t already putting significant pressure on your organization, they probably will be soon, for three…

The 2018 Netwrix IT Risks Report explores how organizations are working to ensure compliance and beat cyber threats. Unfortunately, the results indicate that organizations aren’t doing enough to defeat the bad guys. Here are the 10 most neglected security best practices:  1. Classify data based on its sensitivity.  Security experts recommend that organizations classify data at least twice per year so they can reset access rights and ensure that only the right people have access to data.    Reality check: 64% of organizations admit that they classify data based on its level of sensitivity just once per year or even less frequently.    Pro tip: Many organizations rely on…

Data protection regulations have become stricter and now focus on protection of data privacy of consumers. New state regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) force businesses to make it their top priority. However, many companies lack a strong cybersecurity culture and therefore become more vulnerable to security and compliance issues. According to a whitepaper by Osterman Research, only 18 percent of organizations have a program to train employees on the CCPA, which comes into force in less than a year.  Lack of training and failure to implement other security practices increase risk of human errors, which often lead to data…