A cybersecurity industry leader has told Zero Day Con at the Dublin Convention Centre, that the level of growth in data breaches worldwide has reached a five-year average of 30%.
Conference organiser Raluca Saceanu, who is the CEO of Smarttech247, also told delegates her team has detected a 150% jump in cyber espionage incidents emanating from China in 2024. Despite an explosion in AI software in recent years however, Ms Saceanu said investing in the latest technology should not be the top priority when planning a strategy against this wave of cybercrime.
Addressing 600 delegates on Tuesday 11th, Ms Saceanu said that hackers and cybercriminals re-invest up to 20% of their revenue in acquiring the latest tech to develop ever more complex ways to illegally access data. She believes businesses could never match this level of investment, and shouldn’t try.
“The budget for innovation at an average enterprise would likely run to between 5% and 10% so organised threat actors are way ahead on this front. The vital thing to understand is that no matter how much businesses invest in tools, ensuring resilience and cybersecurity basics are still crucial elements of defence.
“Phishing remains the top form of hacking attempt, so if people within an organisation can spot the signs of malicious content or contact, these incidents can be rapidly foiled. We believe staff who are engaged and educated on this and other basic forms of cybercrime remain the gold standard in preventing the resulting data breaches – and this is where the priority for investment should be”.
The theme for Zero Day Con this year was ‘Converge’ – signifying the combination of three important topics for discussion – AI, resilience and data security.
