Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Top tips is a weekly column where we highlight what’s trending in the tech world and list ways to explore these trends. This week, we will explore ways on how to strengthen any company's first line of defense against cyberattacks. No matter how advanced your cybersecurity tools are, they’re only as strong as the people using them. Phishing scams, social engineering, and weak passwords are threats that often succeed not because systems fail but because humans do.

We often look to the horizon for the next security threat, but a significant challenge to your business is likely hiding in plain sight: Security Debt. This isn’t about predicting future vulnerabilities, it’s the consequences of past decisions. Across the industry, security leaders are grappling with security debt—a hidden cost stemming from years of opting for quick fixes, patching together systems, and deferring crucial maintenance.

Connected devices are powering transformation in every sector, whether it’s smart meters in energy, robotic arms in manufacturing, or infusion pumps in healthcare. But alongside innovation comes risk. More than 50% of connected devices have a known vulnerability, and with security breaches in IoT rising year over year, it’s no longer enough to bolt on protection after the fact.

As IoT deployments continuously expand and evolve, traditional signature-based defenses struggle to keep pace, leaving Zero-Day exploits and APTs free to roam across billions of devices. Without deep visibility into device traffic and real-time behavioral analysis, security teams are blind to stealthy attacks hiding in plain sight—risking data theft, service disruption, and costly compliance breaches.

On July 23rd, the White House released America’s AI Action Plan, a sweeping federal strategy to drive U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. The message was loud and clear: AI is a national imperative. The plan calls for removing regulatory barriers, investing in infrastructure, and accelerating AI adoption across commercial and government sectors. For data security leaders, this signals a pivotal shift.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions have been available for more than 20 years, but despite this level of longevity, there remains confusion about what programs qualify as true MDR. Despite having a long track record of widespread use and success, there is still a great deal of confusion among current and potential MDR clients about what an MDR provider should deliver to keep an MDR client secure.

Cybersecurity is no longer just a tech issue—it's a priority that sits right at the boardroom table. With escalating cyberattacks that are becoming both more frequent and complex, the pressure is on for CIOs and CISOs. The implications of not having clear visibility into our networks can be dire. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, the financial toll of cybercrime could reach a staggering $9.5 trillion by 2024—almost three times what it was in 2015.