Cybersecurity is a constantly evolving field, with new threats and challenges emerging every year. In 2024, several major trends are taking shape, shaping the way companies and individuals approach the security of their systems and data.
AI and machine learning
AI and machine learning continue to transform the field of cybersecurity. Many technology manufacturers have integrated AI to improve their service. This trend will continue to grow in the cybersecurity sector, which sees its use as an important competitive advantage.
We will see the emergence of new technologies, but also the improvement of many existing ones, such as data classification tools powered by AI and machine learning. Security managers will need to keep abreast of the latest developments, and informed of the new capabilities available to them, in order to have the best tools at their disposal.
AI will help us detect, avoid or neutralize threats, moving from reactive measures to proactive strategies, through real-time anomaly detection, intelligent authentication and automated incident response. Cyber defenders will use AI and related technologies to enhance detection, response and attribution of large-scale adversaries, as well as to speed up analysis and other tedious tasks.
Extensive use of AI helps organizations synthesize vast amounts of data and contextualize it into threat intelligence, which then generates actionable detections and analysis.
Cybercriminals' use of AI is constantly evolving, becoming more sophisticated and bypassing existing security defenses. It is crucial, not to say vital, for companies and governments to invest massively in AI-based cybersecurity solutions to protect themselves against unprecedentedly approaching and quantitatively multiplied malicious attacks.
Red Team members and cyber researchers are harnessing generative AI to create innovative cyber defense tools, which could lead to the creation of a machine learning-based digital assistant. This tool could enable the Red Team to automate certain tasks.
Growing importance of data confidentiality
Data confidentiality has become a major concern for companies and individuals alike. With data breaches on the rise and data protection regulations tightening, it is essential to implement robust security measures to protect sensitive information. By 2024, around 75 % of the world's population will have their personal data protected by privacy regulations.
The rise of zero-trust architectures and approaches
Zero-trust is a security approach which assumes that no user or device can be considered secure. This approach requires constant verification of identity and authorization before granting access to resources. To understand the Zero Trust architecture, we need to think first of the traditional security architecture in which a person can access the entire corporate network after logging on at work. Protection, limited to the organization's perimeter, is linked to the physical office premises. This model does not allow telecommuting, and exposes the organization to risks, as someone stealing a password could access everything. Instead of protecting only an organization's perimeter, the Zero Trust architecture protects every file, every e-mail and every network by authenticating every identity and every device.
Integrating cybersecurity and corporate strategy
Cybersecurity is no longer seen as an isolated technical concern, but as an essential element of a company's overall strategy. Business leaders increasingly recognize the importance of cybersecurity to their organization's success. Security and risk managers need to redefine the distribution of investments between technological, structural and human elements when designing and implementing their cybersecurity programs.
In today's environment, it is essential for management to be fully involved in the planning and implementation of security measures, so as to dedicate sufficient resources to their implementation.
Cyber resilience - beyond cybersecurity
Cyber resilience goes beyond simply preventing attacks to include the ability to recover quickly and effectively from security incidents. This includes incident preparation, incident response and incident recovery. Unlike cybersecurity, cyber resilience strategies are designed to ensure business continuity, even in the event of a successful breach. These strategies aim to ensure rapid recovery with minimal data loss.
Cybersecurity threats on the rise
In 2024, cyberthreat actors will rely heavily on sophisticated attacks that have demonstrated a good success rate and return on investment (ROI) in the past. Among the cybersecurity threats in vogue in 2024 are ransomware, supply chain attacks and multi-vector attacks. Multi-vector attacks combine several techniques and attack vectors within a single cyberattack campaign. Cyberthreat actors use these tactics because they make attacks harder to detect and contain, thus increasing the probability of success.
