Cybersecurity Trends of 2024

The year 2024 brings new challenges in cybersecurity for small and medium-sized business owners. Rapid digitization, the trend of remote work as a necessity, and breakthroughs in the complex and branching technology industry raise concerns about web traffic, business, and client data. The development and implementation of digital technologies signify a parallel growth in digital threats.

These concerns are fueled by statistics. For example, according to the South 6 portal, businesses lose $400 billion annually due to cyber attacks and the efforts to combat their consequences. As for small and medium-sized businesses, they account for 28% of all cyber attacks. To alleviate some of these concerns, it is essential to be familiar with the cybersecurity trends in the current year, 2024.

1)AI Defense or Threat?

From the perspective of the world of technology, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is a significant breakthrough, but it comes with a double-edged sword. On one hand, AI, such as ChatGPT, became a real trend in 2023 and experts predict that similar technologies will continue to shape the trends of the digital world. On the other hand, they will be used both for defense and attack.

Let’s consider AI as a threat to humans, not in terms of “machine uprising and artificial intelligence,” but real threats in the field of cyber attacks. Modern technologies play into the hands of cybercriminals.

AI allows for more accurate profiling of victims and personalization of attacks. This will be particularly evident in social engineering and phishing. We’ll see more convincing phishing emails with links that masquerade as what we need. These will be well-crafted messages imitating ordinary human communication. Fake links will come from tax authorities, our business partners, social institutions, and even under the names of our acquaintances and friends.

At the same time, AI algorithms will be much more effective in detecting mass attacks. With AI, cybersecurity experts will be able to quickly and accurately identify such attacks. AI will also partially replace the first line of Security Operations Centre (SOC)

2) Cloud Security

Cloud security is a set of cybersecurity measures used to protect cloud applications, data and infrastructure. According to Google LLC, cloud security involves cybersecurity policies, best practices, management elements, and technologies used to safeguard programs, data, and infrastructure in cloud environments. Specifically, cloud security ensures the protection of storage and networks from internal and external threats, access management, data management, compliance with requirements, and disaster recovery.

“All corporate IT infrastructures and applications are moving to the clouds. Hence the increasing need for cloud and cloud application protection. There is progressively less physical on-premises IT infrastructure,” says Dmitro Hanzhelo, CTO of InDevLab.

As the demand for cloud resources grows, there is a need for comprehensive protection that is effective without impacting the speed of other systems and applications.

3)Remote Workplace Protection

Protection of remote workplaces is becoming increasingly important in the modern digital world, especially with the growing popularity of remote work and the use of technologies to ensure productivity. 

Wars, armed conflicts, pandemics, and natural disasters – all these are challenges of today.

More and more businesses are diversifying across different regions. A significant portion of businesses adopted hybrid work formats post-COVID-19, with an increasing number of companies embracing hybrid work setups. The need for data and resource protection extends beyond the company’s offices to remote workplaces.

With remote access to corporate networks and data, the risk of confidential information leakage beyond the company’s boundaries increases. Therefore, the policy for protecting remote workplaces becomes increasingly relevant.

4) Employee Personal Device Protection

This trend stems from the previous, albeit short, but crucial point for discussion. Currently, every employee uses personal mobile devices to perform corporate tasks. In one way or another, employees download data onto their devices or access corporate accounts and applications through these devices.

Malicious actors actively seek opportunities to attack corporate networks through employees’ devices. Vulnerabilities in the security of such devices can lead to data loss, extortion, leakage of confidential information, and other negative consequences. Consequently, the need for device protection will increase, and tools that ensure the security of personal devices and the confidentiality of employee information will be required.

5) SASE

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is a security system that combines Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) and “Zero Trust” security model-based solutions into a unified cloud platform, providing secure connectivity for users, systems, endpoints, and remote networks to applications and resources.

SASE is based on a multilayer approach, consisting of components that provide information security at different levels of infrastructure and IT systems:

-Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)

-Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)

-Secure Web Gateway (SWG)

– Trust No One Network Access (ZTNA)

-Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)

-Unified, centralized management system.

-Due to the Zero Trust approach and multilayer approach, businesses achieve higher security standards. 

According to Microsoft, SASE is the best solution for businesses.

“Any organization that wants to ensure comprehensive protection against threats and data security, accelerate the transition to digital technologies, and facilitate work in a remote or hybrid mode, should urgently consider implementing the SASE platform,” says Microsoft.

6) DPI

With the increase in phishing tools and the enhancement of cyber attacks, there will be a growing demand for deep packet inspection.

Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is a technology for examining network packet’s content to regulate and filter traffic, as well as accumulate statistical data. Unlike firewalls, DPI analyzes not only packet headers but also content, starting from the second layer of the OSI model. DPI technology enables Internet service providers and governmental authorities to apply flexible Quality of Service (QoS) policies to different types of traffic, restrict access to prohibited resources, detect network intrusions, and halt the spread of computer viruses.

Undoubtedly, DPI technology has predominantly positive aspects. While its application previously raised privacy and ethical concerns, advancements in computational capabilities and the use of AI can now ensure the preservation of privacy and personal data.

7) Combatting Fake News and Disinformation

The trend of information hygiene and protection against dubious and false information is gaining momentum.

We have witnessed information wars between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine. Some countries even enter agreements for joint efforts against disinformation. Ukraine has signed an agreement with media regulators from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Romania for cooperation and mutual support in combating disinformation, as reported by the Strategic Communications and Information Security Center, citing the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting.

The diversity of fake news and misinformation affects people, their mental well-being, perception of the world, and work efficiency. As a result, the business and economic sectors suffer from the overwhelming amount of disinformation.

We will witness new filtering tools analyzing data for truthfulness and authenticity. Information hygiene will soon become not just a vague concept, but a necessity for effective communication and business management, as the entire world adheres to such policies.

In conclusion, we want to emphasize that 2024 will bring new challenges in cybersecurity, especially for businesses and organizations. The rapid digitization and popularity of remote work increase the risks of cyber attacks. The development of AI technologies, both as a means of protection and an attack tool, becomes a double-edged sword, simultaneously facilitating and complicating the work of cybersecurity professionals.