Cyber-attacks on businesses and governments ramp

Cyber-attacks on businesses and governments are ramping up as the return to the office gains pace. It comes as the ransomware threat increases amid a warning from National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) CEO Lindy Cameron that businesses need to shore up their defences against this growing form of attack.

The past two years have seen a number of high profile attacks involving ransomware, including the US’s Colonial Pipeline hack and the UK attack on Hackney Borough Council. Interpol's Cybercrime Threat Response has detected a "significant increase" in the number of attempted ransomware attacks against key organisations around the world.

As nation state attacks such as the SolarWinds hack continue to be a threat to all organisations, it’s never been as important to ensure you are as robust as possible.

Why Hybrid?

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we decided to run the Future of Cyber Security as a virtual event, via an immersive platform to provide the best conference experience in the market. Now the Future of Cyber Security is going hybrid—a virtual event will take place alongside an in-person physical event.

We want to offer choice, which why we believe hybrid is the way forward. While we are excited about a return to physical events, we want to offer the choice to people who don’t feel comfortable attending in person, or who live further afield. With the ability to talk to people and network via an immersive and engaging one-of-a-kind platform, our virtual events of 2020 and 2021 have received huge demand and superb feedback.

Taking pace on January 27, the physical event will take place at the Manchester United football ground, Old Trafford, alongside a live stream on the virtual platform. The physical event is COVID-secure – we will be checking attendees have had both jabs and up to date tests, complying with UK regulations.

Our events have so far included a diverse and high level speaker line-up, including Jane Frankland, Microsoft’s Sarah Armstrong-Smith, Brittany Kaiser, Edward Snowden, Ciaran Martin and Robert Hannigan. Our 2022 events are continuing to attract a high calibre of speakers.

Following hot on the heels of our highly-successful 2021 online events, the Future Of Cyber Security Hybrid Conference will be better than ever. In response to popular demand from senior industry executives, the Europe-wide conference will feature topics relevant to our evolved working environment as employees across all industries work at home and in the office.

Cybercrime into 2022 and beyond

Cybercrime is skyrocketing, with “nearly all” criminal activities featuring an online component, according to Europol’s 2021 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) report.

The cost of a breach can be huge, often reaching millions of pounds. According to Accenture and the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a cyber-attack is $13 million.

The Annual Cost of Cybercrime study found that criminals are adapting their attack methods by targeting the human layer — the weakest link in cyber defence — through increased ransomware with phishing and social engineering attacks as a path to entry.

This is especially relevant in today’s climate, which has never been riskier for businesses as the return to work opens new avenues for attack. So much so that the NCSC has released updated guidance to help firms deploy and manage a “potentially difficult IT set-up” post pandemic, saying that BYOD needs a complete overhaul.

With this in mind, the Future Of Cyber Security Hybrid Conference will include sessions covering why pandemic “quick fix” BYOD strategies are not fit for purpose. The session will look at creating a BYOD policy that works for the current office/working from home environment.

Ransomware is one of the biggest threats to businesses and government organisations, with an attack able to take down entire networks as malware locks valuable company data. The Future Of Cyber Security Hybrid Conference will look at this common attack vector, as well ransomware-as-a-service and multi-extortion attacks outlining how your business can protect itself and stop ransomware causing lasting damage.

DDoS attacks are another major risk to organisations. According to Microsoft, the size and scale of attacks is increasing. The firm mitigated an attack on an Azure customer that came in at 2.4Tbps in 2021, beating the peak traffic volume of a 2.3Tbps attack that hit Amazon Webservices in 2020.

With this in mind, the Future Of Cyber Security Hybrid Conference will look at the threat posed by DDoS attacks and how to mitigate it.

It’s never been more important to stay abreast of the cyber threat landscape and your business’ risk level within this. Taking this into account, The Future of Cyber Security Hybrid Conference will examine the current threat landscape, looking at the types of cyber-attacks being performed and who is perpetrating them, offering key tips and strategies to keep your company safe.