Not too long ago, when I was designing, building, operating and defending networks, the government organizations I worked with were burdened with many tasks related to deploying a new capability. We needed to decide and plan how it would be assessed and authorized, deployed, maintained, operated, patched, defended and, of course, when and how to upgrade the capability. Assessment and authorization would take months, if not over a year, for a system or set of capabilities.

Attackers predominantly use phishing attacks to steal and misuse user identities. A global Statista study on employee-reported malicious emails revealed that in the first quarter of 2023, 58.2% of malicious emails were credential theft attacks, 40.5% were impersonation attacks, and 1.3% were malware deliveries. Phishing attacks create a sense of urgency and panic in users, who, as a result, easily fall victim to them.

Alexandre Dumas's timeless novel "The Three Musketeers" immortalized the ideal of unyielding solidarity, the enduring motto "All for one and one for all." In the face of ever-evolving threats in the digital realm, the European Union echoes this spirit with its landmark Cyber Solidarity Act.

Cloud workloads continue to grow as new digital innovations arise monthly in the worlds of IoT applications, cloud services, and big data analytics. However, the cloud's dynamic and often complex nature can make cloud application security challenging. This gap in cloud security readiness is a growing concern for organizations worldwide, with CISOs feeling the pressure. 61% of CISOs feel unequipped to cope with a targeted attack, and 68% expect such an attack within the following year.

Tech leaders taking cybersecurity seriously is something of a double-edged sword. While it’s undoubtedly good that organizations are waking up to the genuine threat cyberattacks pose, it’s depressing that they must siphon off so many resources to protect themselves rather than using them for growth and innovation.

Vulnerabilities are everywhere and often exploited. For example, in 2023, over 29,000 critical and high vulnerabilities were discovered across approximately 1,400 applications. The dynamic and evolving attack surfaces make it harder to protect against these threats. When the attack surface gets bigger, so does the risk of cyber attacks. This blog delves into what an attack surface is and recommends best practices in attack surface reduction.