Top Cybersecurity and Compliance Scenarios You Shouldn’t Ignore in 2024

A few weeks ago, I shared the top five cybersecurity trends to watch in 2024. To be honest, there’s so much going on in the world of security and compliance that five trends doesn’t really capture it all.

So, to that end, here are some scenarios that every compliance and cybersecurity manager will need to keep a close eye on this year. 

The Human Element in Cybersecurity

Perhaps the most important priority for organizations in 2024 is to get their personnel actively involved in the solution. If your people aren’t adequately trained, you won’t be adequately protected for the coming year. 

Organizations will need to pay more attention to what their employees are doing and where they’re storing information. With the prevalence of abilities for personnel to store company information in the cloud on things such as their personal cloud based storage, it’s a big problem. Data loss prevention (DLP) has been an issue for years, and it has become more important — especially as remote work has increased. 

The next evolution of DLP are new tool sets called data security posture management (DSPM). Leverage these tools to monitor and identify where sets of data are being sent, who has access to the data, and how it’s being used. 

Attack Surfaces in 2024

Bad actors are continually looking for new avenues into your organization’s system. Often that means taking circuitous routes to get there. In 2024, these environments will be targeted attack surfaces.

Cloud services

Cloud services have been exploding through 2023 as more organizations move their systems to the cloud. Many of these cloud platforms are good at protecting themselves, but less adept at protecting the companies they serve. Just because you use a cloud platform, that doesn’t mean you’re secure. It’s imperative to understand where the protections of your provider end and your responsibilities begin.

As more companies move to the cloud, it has made cloud platforms juicier opportunities for bad actors. Expect more targeted attacks on cloud platforms in the coming year. 

Zero-day exploits

In 2024, we’ll see zero-day exploits being discovered by bad actors but not announced. The bad actors will take advantage of zero-days, using them for their own purposes — whether it’s for attacks or to gain more insight into their adversaries.

Supply chain compromises

Your supply chain potentially puts your organization at risk, whether it’s a printing service or a backup storage provider. You’re sharing company data with your suppliers, and their vulnerabilities become your vulnerabilities. 

Expect to see more suppliers getting targeted in the coming year and beyond, as bad actors seek for new ways to get an organization’s sensitive information.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The ever-increasing complexity of connected devices leaves you more vulnerable to attack, because it means more entry points to your data from the internet. We’ll see new and inventive attacks involving connected devices in 2024.

Focus on Authentication 

There’s been a lot of talk recently about zero trust and buttoning up authentication. The oversight of authentication will continue to increase in importance over  the coming year. 

I’ve been glad to see a marked increase in the demand for using multi-factor authentication. That won’t slow down, and we’ll even see an increasing move toward using biometrics as a second factor of authentication. After all, you can lose your phone, but you’ll never lose your face.

Long Term Exposure

Typically, when a breach occurs, bad actors attempt to monetize their activities immediately. But there’s more to it than that.

Every time an organization gets breached, a slew of encrypted data gets exfiltrated for a later time. That encryption may be unbreakable today, but eventually advanced technology will allow bad actors to break the encryption, and data that was stolen years ago will now be exploitable. 

Attackers are patient — they’re willing to steal data they can’t decrypt, put it on a shelf, and come back to it years later when they have the tools to break your encryption. 

If your company isn’t updating your encryption algorithms to keep up with present standards, you’re making it easier for threat actors to profit from your breach long term.

As we go forward five or ten years from now, we’ll begin to see more and more organizations dealing with fallout from breaches that occurred years before. We haven’t seen much of that yet, but it’s coming.

Don’t Delay on Security and Compliance

This year is going to be the most high-stakes year on record for security and compliance concerns. Organizations absolutely need to stay on top of these considerations and to proactively protect their companies.

Need help planning or implementing the right tools for your organization’s cybersecurity needs? Talk to TCT — we can provide compliance tools, consulting services, and referrals to put you on solid ground.