According to surveys conducted regarding cyber adversary detection, it has been revealed that cyber activities remain undetected for an average of 201 days, i.e. approximately six months. It is apparently a very short period of time for some company giants worldwide, in order to assume that they are protected from cyber threat actors.
While attacks are becoming more frequent and expensive, the VC industry distributed a staggering $17.1 billion to support the development and complexity of recent cybersecurity companies as well as fund new disruptors. With an average cost of roughly $9.5 million per incident, the United States has held the record for the highest data breach cost for the past twelve years.
However, despite all the efforts and money put into cybersecurity, there has not been a significant advancement in the field. Why can not these industry giants, who have the resources, access, and expertise to build world-class cybersecurity systems, prevent big breaches, and limit the scope of damage to their goods, services, and consumers? The conclusion is simple when you realize it. It is because they are not actively looking for the adversary intentionally and consistently.
How Did it Get to This Point?
The cybersecurity situation is poor, and a number of causes might be linked to its current state of frequent compromise and uncertainty.
One of the factors is threats, which are continuously evolving. Every-time cybersecurity teams come forward with a solution for one threat, a dozen or more tend to follow. Consequently, before any defense could even be found and system flaws are patched, threat actors work up on scanning and developing further attacks. As soon as a solution is implemented, it no longer is relevant.
Additionally, the cyber defense structures have grown more complicated and received more funding, which has resulted in a lack of accountability to monitor their efficiency.
The aforementioned factors have consequently produced a false sense of security since one must note that investing a large amount in cybersecurity does not equal legitimate protection. Instead, cybersecurity vendors merely supply without dynamic monitoring and leave behind incremental security that could be more scalable.
What is The Solution?
It is being advised that much emphasis must be placed on developing or implementing capabilities that challenge the existing cybersecurity complacency. Do not assume that all adversaries are out of the network since there are chances that these threat actors are lurking in the network in real time.
In order to establish a sense of certainty surrounding cyberattacks by implementing a factual, internal network-focused process of the continuous compromise assessment.
One must also keep in mind that there is no one solution that would aid in mitigating attacks. But a constant compromise assessment would ease the decision-making process for companies and eventually impact the dynamics of its cybersecurity ecosystem.
In reality, the adversaries would not banish from a company’s system. One can only take cautionary measures by effectively monitoring and responding to an organization’s cyber threats. One such measure for a successful cybersecurity plan starts with maintaining consistent visibility into the nature of compromises.
