From the boardroom to the cyber combat zone, the past 12 months will go down as a year that society came under attack from an unprecedented wave of digital threats. The new battlefield. Sophisticated ransomware, deepfake phishing scams and state-sponsored cyber-attacks highlighted just how pervasive the danger has become. At the same time, businesses and governments accelerated efforts to develop new defenses– actions which, while vital, sparked debates around privacy and the ethics of cybersecurity. So, here is an overview of the year's most significant developments, incidents and breakthroughs in cyber security and explore what these mean for individuals and organizations navigating an increasingly connected, online and digital world.[1]
Escalating Onslaught: Cyber Attacks Surge - The frequency and scale of cyber-attacks have reached unprecedented levels over the past 12 months, with businesses, governments, and critical infrastructure all coming under sustained attacks. Notable incidents included the breach of telecom and internet service providers by the cybercrime group Salt Typhoon, believed to be linked to the Chinese military, infiltration of western corporate IT departments by North Korean agents, unauthorized access to US water supply infrastructure and, perhaps most shocking to donut lovers, the disruption of Krispy Kreme’s delivery network.
Democracy Under Siege: Electoral Interference And Deepfake Disruption - The world experienced a noticeable uptick in attempts to use technology to undermine trust in democratic processes during 2024. This included the spread of disinformation via AI deepfakes during elections, including those in the USA and India. The end of the year even saw an entire national presidential election annulled in Romania after claims of widespread Russian interference. With digital manipulation increasingly employed to disrupt democracy, there were increasingly loud calls for public education campaigns to be rolled out to counter their impact.
Cyberwarfare On The Frontline - Moreso than any other conflict in history, cyber warfare has taken center stage in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Since Russia launched its invasion, both sides have raced to deploy increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks against the infrastructure of their enemy. This has involved launching attacks intended to disrupt power grids and disable supply chains. This digital arms race demonstrated the evolving nature of warfare, where the ability to launch and defend against cyber-attacks is as critical for victory as traditional military tactics.
AI Features Lead To Security Concerns - Over the past 12 months, businesses tripped over themselves to integrate generative AI features and functionality, sometimes leading to unexpected security concerns. One example was Microsoft’s launch of its new Recall function, which takes frequent memory to enable AI-powered searches of previous user and device activity. Researchers discovered that these snapshots inadvertently stored personal information including credit card details, social security numbers and the contents of private conversations, potentially exposing them to security breaches. This incident highlighted how well-meaning innovation can have unexpected consequences for security when not properly safeguarded.
When Security Becomes The Threat: Crowdstrike Chaos - One of the most catastrophic cyber threats last year wasn't caused by hackers or malicious actors but by a fault in the security systems designed to keep everything running smoothly. A flawed update to Crowdstrike’s Falcon cybersecurity platform triggered a devastating global failure of IT systems in July, grounding airlines, crashing banking systems and bringing healthcare providers to a standstill. The lesson here was that complacency and incompetence can sometimes be just as threatening to cybersecurity and resilience as the most devious and determined hackers.
Number Of Compromised Records Hits All-Time High - A disturbing new benchmark was set last year when the number of records exposed due to data breaches hit an all-time high. These losses took place across thousands of incidents, notable examples of which include the Snowflake cloud security breach.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/01/08/7-lessons-from-a-year-of-unprecedented-cyber-attacks/
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