What About Cybersecurity Awareness?

Take a glance at the most discussed cybersecurity news of the week. Building cybersecurity awareness is a key factor in the protection of crucial data and risk management.

Share sound waves with a hacker?

Forbes on February 26, 2019

When you finish reading this news, you will probably keep silent for a while.

Although cybersecurity specialists are hard to surprise, the fact that new techniques used by smartphone apps are able to track people’s actions through ultrasonic tones that human’s ear does not perceive can raise their eyebrows.

The mechanism is easy – you allow an app the access to your phone’s microphone (just out of habit) and then it starts picking up ultrasonic tones and building up a profile about where you have been, what you have seen, and in some cases even the websites you have opened.

By the way, in 2017 researchers from the Technical University of Braunschweig found out that 234 Android apps already had the ability to listen for ultrasonic tones without the user’s knowledge. Sounds creepy.

Gamification deserves consideration

Information Age on February 27, 2019

– Mom, where is my Teddy Bear?

Let’s be honest – we all love playing games. Whatever they could be – dolls, toy cars, Lego, Mario or the Sims 2, gamification is an essential part of our life. But what if game-playing can help to boost employees’ cybersecurity awareness?

According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of data breaches caused by human error is nearly $8 million per year. To minimize the risks many businesses have adopted gamification.

Some games are complex and include several levels to pass and coins to earn, while others are rather simple like sending out “test” phishing emails and rewarding staff for not falling for them. Through “wargaming” a data breach scenario, companies simplify employees’ understanding of the planned incident response in terms of a real cyber attack.

Indeed, sometimes it’s worth looking at things from different points of view and cybersecurity is no exception.

“Hackers can be the immune system for our new digital reality”

BizTech Magazine on February 25, 2019

It is the main conclusion of the CDW Protect SummIT in Phoenix. To strengthen cybersecurity policy companies should think about it differently, analyze hackers’ behavior and pay attention to white hat hackers as they can play a key role in protection of the crucial assets of the organization.

According to Research and Markets, the global cybersecurity industry is expected to grow to $177 billion by 2025. In terms of that, organizations should invest in security assessment capabilities and use a variety of tools to keep their credentials secure. Cybersecurity is about more than protecting assets and creating long passwords; it’s about protecting our very way of life in today’s modern world.

Moreover, nowadays there are more connected devices than people on our planet, so we the risk of botnet attack is especially high. Additionally, automation and scale simplifies hackers’ life and aggravates CISOs’ stress. Thus, the idea of a new cybersecurity approach seems really necessary.