With record-breaking attacks in 2021, end-users and organizations must keep vigilant to protect against cyber security threats. Gartner predicts that by 2025, more than 75% of organizations will face one or more attacks by bad actors due to the exponential growth in the threat landscape. Industry analysts and professionals across the board have identified some key areas that companies should focus on for 2022.
The gaming and leisure industry globally experienced everything from casino floors held for ransom to hundreds of thousands of customer records exfiltrated off the secure network into the hands of bad actors. These attacks ranged from the breach with Dotty’s known as National Restaurant Services, NRS, where customers’ personal data was exfiltrated from the loyalty system, to the Federal Group in Australia that experienced a lockdown and ransom of casino and lodging systems where potential credit card data was exposed.
These incidents that result in the lockdown of critical systems, data theft, and loss come at a significant cost. Organizations lost thousands of dollars an hour unable to operate casino floors, service hotel guests, and process credit cards. Beyond the direct financial loss, customer confidence and even stock price can be impacted by a breach.
The frequency and complexity of attacks have significantly changed over the past 18 months. Organizations are tested millions of times a day as hackers have switched to more automated ways to launch attacks. These well-organized groups are using sophisticated automation and methods to take advantage of vulnerabilities across the board. Beyond the trusted network, third-party systems are susceptible to incidents that bring down websites and credit card processing, or create some type of denial of service event that prevents portions of critical systems from functioning. According to Cyber GRX in the past two years, 82% of organizations experienced some type of third-party breach that impacted an area of technical operations.