The 2024 Summer Olympics may have garnered as much cybersecurity related media focus as the games themselves. Every two years, threat actors from a slew of countries seek notoriety by attempting to or succeeding in breaching one of the world’s largest sporting events, giving cybersecurity teams all they can handle to mitigate potential threats.
Although no incidents disrupted the 300-plus medal competitions across dozens of sporting events held in Paris, authorities in France reported more than 140 cyberattacks occurred during this year’s summer games. From late July through the closing ceremonies on August 11, France’s national cybersecurity agency ANSSI recorded 119 reports of “low-impact security events” and 22 additional incidents in which malicious actors successfully targeted information systems. According to ANSSI, the attacks focused mostly on government agencies as well as sports, transportation, and telecoms infrastructure.
From the Olympics to financial institutions to all sectors of most industries, organizations need their workforces to possess the best cybersecurity skills possible. A recent survey of IT professionals conducted by Pluralsight revealed that the top two skills needed to dismantle the most dangerous emerging security threats are threat intelligence and reverse engineering.
Organizations that arm themselves with a workforce that brings this one-two punch to cybersecurity are better equipped to defend themselves from malicious actors. When threat analysis, reporting, and response (threat intelligence) is combined with uncovering how malicious software works and identifying vulnerabilities (reverse engineering), the results play a significant role to help future-proof a business’s defense systems.
Taking Action Against Innovative, Novel Cyber Threats
Using threat intelligence and reverse engineering in tandem can optimize cyber risk mitigation programs and fortify cybersecurity defenses. Professionals trained in threat intelligence and reverse engineering are more likely than those lacking these skills to develop updates and implement patches to avert risk quickly and effectively.
Threat intelligence helps drive early detection and improved response to threats by analyzing patterns and indicators of compromise as well as giving security teams more effective incident response plans to quickly mitigate threats. Reverse engineering drives better understanding of malware by analyzing its structure and methods of operation as well as developing mechanisms for detecting its characteristics. Even when faced with innovative, novel cyber threats, teams who possess these skills will be ready to take immediate action.
Incidents such as the BlackCat ransomware attack, the Poly Network hack, and several high-profile breaches in the healthcare sector reflect ongoing trends in cyber threats and the importance of instituting robust cybersecurity measures across all industries.
Companies that fall behind in their efforts to upskill and train their IT teams against cyber threats will become increasingly more susceptible to opportunistic attackers. In 2023, Pluralsight found that surveyed IT professionals know they’ll need to learn AI skills to secure their careers as 96% say staying up to date with AI skills is the best way to ensure their job security.
As such, organizations need to reduce the cyber workforce skills gap by training their employees in the latest tech trends to give them the expertise they need to proactively guard against attacks. According to a report from the Sloan School of Managementat the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cloud misconfigurations, increasingly sophisticated ransomware, and vendor exploitation hacks are contributing to rising cyberattacks.
The Threat Landscape Continues to Grow
As organizations seek to fill traditional positions or create new cybersecurity roles to defend themselves, the threat landscape continues to grow. According to the Biden administration’s director of National Intelligence, the number of ransomware attacks worldwide grew by as much as 74% in 2023. In testimony to Congress earlier this year, Avril Haines said U.S. entities were the most heavily targeted last year with attacks in sectors like healthcare doubling between 2022 and 2023.
The current and future cybersecurity landscape will be characterized by a range of threats and factors that include the role of skills development in protecting against cyberattacks, from day-to-day business operations to high profile events like the Olympics, large-scale public gatherings, and political elections.
In the United States, cybersecurity issues related to the 2024 presidential election have already come into focus after a trove of confidential information was hacked from Donald Trump’s campaign operations. Although the handful of news outlets that received the information from an anonymous source chose not to publish any of it, the damage had already been done, orchestrated by a hacker who identified themselves only as “Robert.”
To stay ahead of opportunistic bad actors, it’s more important now than ever before for organizations to build out a workforce that possesses the most sought-out cybersecurity skills like threat intelligence and reverse engineering. In today’s competitive labor market, this entails not only recruiting and hiring the best talent available but also fostering a culture of continuous learning across the business to ensure that skills gaps are identified and workforces remain as equipped as possible on thwarting cyberattacks.
This includes proficiency in knowing how GenAI can be properly leveraged for threat detection and as a response tool against emerging attacks. Amidst the evolving AI landscape, its adoption by malicious actors, and ongoing cybersecurity skills gaps in the technology workforce, Pluralsight has found that over 80% of surveyed IT professionals are concerned about AI-powered threats.
By mounting a cyber defense using AI tools, organizations can bolster their strengths in threat detection and prevention, incident response, vulnerability management, user authentication, fraud detection, and threat forecasting. As such, AI can enhance cybersecurity by delivering advanced tools for detecting and responding to threats, automating routine tasks, and improving the overall efficiency of security operations.
According to a report from IBM, in 2023 the average cost savings for organizations that used security AI and automation extensively for cybersecurity and breach prevention was $2.22 million compared to companies that did not do so. The report also found that the average cost of a data breach globally is $4.8 million, which represents a 10% increase over the prior year and is, to date, the highest total per breach cost ever. The findings also revealed that one out of every three breaches involved shadow data, showing that the proliferation of data is making it harder to secure it all.
Defending Digital Assets and Ensuring the Safety and Reliability of Systems
By upskilling the workforce and implementing the right technologies and practices, organizations can safeguard their digital assets and ensure the confidentiality and integrity of their data and networks. The multi-faceted discipline of cybersecurity is critical to ensure the safe and reliable operation of technology systems. When armed with the right skills and consistently practicing how to react to simulated cyberattacks, businesses can create the best defense possible against an increasingly active threat landscape.
