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FortiGuard Labs Predicts the Convergence of Advanced Persistent Threat Methods with Cybercrime

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2 years ago

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Fortinet has unveiled predictions from the FortiGuard Labs global threat intelligence and research team about the cyber threat landscape for the next 12 months and beyond. From quickly evolving Cybercrime-as-a-Service (CaaS)-fueled attacks to new exploits on nontraditional targets like edge devices or online worlds, the volume, variety, and scale of cyber threats will keep security teams on high alert in 2023 and beyond.

Derek Manky, Chief Security Strategist and VP for Global Threat Intelligence, FortiGuard Labs said, “As cybercrime converges with advanced persistent threat methods, cybercriminals are finding ways to weaponize new technologies at scale to enable more disruption and destruction. They are not just targeting the traditional attack surface but also beneath it, meaning both outside and inside traditional network environments. At the same time, they are spending more time on reconnaissance to attempt to evade detection, intelligence, and controls. All of this means cyber risk continues to escalate, and CISOs need to be just as nimble and methodical as the adversary. Organizations will be better positioned to protect against these attacks with a cybersecurity platform integrated across networks, endpoints, and clouds to enable automated and actionable threat intelligence, coupled with advanced behavioral-based detection and response capabilities.”

Success of RaaS is a Preview of What Is to Come with CaaS
Given cybercriminal success with Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), a growing number of additional attack vectors will be made available as a service through the dark web to fuel a significant expansion of Cybercrime-as-a-Service. Beyond the sale of ransomware and other Malware-as-a-Service offerings, new a la carte services will emerge. CaaS presents an attractive business model for threat actors. With varying skill levels they can easily take advantage of turnkey offerings without investing the time and resources upfront to craft their own unique attack plan.

And for seasoned cybercriminals, creating and selling attack portfolios as-a-service offers a simple, quick, and repeatable payday. Going forward, subscription-based CaaS offerings could potentially provide additional revenue streams. In addition, threat actors will also begin to leverage emerging attack vectors such as deepfakes, offering these videos and audio recordings, and related algorithms more broadly for purchase.

One of the most important methods to defend against these developments is cybersecurity awareness education and training. While many organizations offer basic security training programs for employees, organizations should consider adding new modules that provide education on spotting evolving methods such as AI-enabled threats.

Reconnaissance-as-a-Service Models Could Make Attacks More Effective
Another aspect of how the organized nature of cybercrime will enable more effective attack strategies involves the future of reconnaissance. As attacks become more targeted, threat actors will likely hire “detectives” on the dark web to gather intelligence on a particular target before launching an attack. Like the insights one might gain from hiring a private investigator, Reconnaissance-as-a-Service offerings may serve up attack blueprints to include an organization’s security schema, key cybersecurity personnel, the number of servers they have, known external vulnerabilities, and even compromised credentials for sale, or more, to help a cybercriminal carry out a highly targeted and effective attack.

Attacks fueled by CaaS models mean stopping adversaries earlier during reconnaissance will be important. Luring cybercriminals with deception technology will be a helpful way to not only counter RaaS but also CaaS at the reconnaissance phase. Cybersecurity deception coupled with a digital risk protection (DRP) service can help organizations know the enemy and gain an advantage.

Money Laundering Gets a Boost from Automation to Create LaaS
To grow cybercriminal organizations, leaders, and affiliate programs employ money mules who are knowingly or unknowingly used to help launder money. The money shuffling is typically done through anonymous wire transfer services or through crypto exchanges to avoid detection. Setting up money mule recruitment campaigns has historically been a time-consuming process, as cybercrime leaders go to great lengths to create websites for fake organizations and subsequent job listings to make their businesses seem legitimate.

Cybercriminals will soon start using machine learning (ML) for recruitment targeting, helping them to better identify potential mules while reducing the time it takes to find these recruits. Manual mule campaigns will be replaced with automated services that move money through layers of crypto exchanges, making the process faster and more challenging to trace. Money Laundering-as-a-Service (LaaS) could quickly become mainstream as part of the growing CaaS portfolio. And for the organizations or individuals that fall victim to this type of cybercrime, the move to automation means that money laundering will be harder to trace, decreasing the chances of recovering stolen funds.

Looking outside an organization for clues about future attack methods will be more important than ever, to help prepare before attacks take place. DRP services are critical for external threat surface assessments, to find and remediate security issues, and help gain contextual insights on current and imminent threats before an attack takes place.

Virtual Cities and Online Worlds Are New Attack Surfaces to Fuel Cybercrime
The metaverse is giving rise to new, fully immersive experiences in the online world, and virtual cities are some of the first to foray into this new version of the internet-driven through augmented reality technologies. Retailers are even launching digital goods available for purchase in these virtual worlds. While these new online destinations open a world of possibilities, they also open the door to an unprecedented increase in cybercrime in unchartered territory.

For example, an individual’s avatar is essentially a gateway to personally identifiable information (PII), making them prime targets for attackers. Because individuals can purchase goods and services in virtual cities, digital wallets, crypto exchanges, NFTs, and any currencies used to transact offer threat actors yet another emerging attack surface. Biometric hacking could also become a real possibility because of the AR and VR-driven components of virtual cities, making it easier for a cybercriminal to steal fingerprint mapping, facial recognition data, or retina scans and then use them for malicious purposes.

In addition, the applications, protocols, and transactions within these environments are also possible targets for adversaries. Regardless of work-from-anywhere, learning-from-anywhere, or immersive experiences-from-anywhere, real-time visibility, protection, and mitigation is essential with advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR) to enable real-time analysis, protection, and remediation.

Commoditization of Wiper Malware Will Enable More Destructive Attacks
Wiper malware has made a dramatic comeback in 2022, with attackers introducing new variants of this decade-old attack method. According to the 1H 2022 FortiGuard Labs Global Threat Landscape report, there was an increase in disk-wiping malware in conjunction with the war in Ukraine, but it was also detected in 24 additional countries, not just in Europe. Its growth in prevalence is alarming because this could be just the start of something more destructive.

Beyond the existing reality of threat actors combining a computer worm with wiper malware, and even ransomware for maximum impact, the concern going forward is the commoditization of wiper malware for cybercriminals. Malware that may have been developed and deployed by nation-state actors could be picked up and re-used by criminal groups and used throughout the CaaS model. Given its broader availability combined with the right exploit, wiper malware could cause massive destruction in a short period of time given the organized nature of cybercrime today.

This makes time for detection and the speed at which security teams can remediate paramountly. Using AI-powered inline sandboxing is a good starting point to protect against sophisticated ransomware and wiper malware threats. It allows real-time protection against evolving attacks because it can ensure only benign files will be delivered to endpoints if integrated with a cybersecurity platform.

What These Attack Trends Mean for Cybersecurity Professionals
The world of cybercrime and the attack methods of cyber adversaries, in general, continue to scale at great speed. The good news is that many of the tactics they are using to execute these attacks are familiar, which better positions security teams to protect against them.

Security solutions should be enhanced with machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) so they can detect attack patterns and stop threats in real-time. However, a collection of point security solutions is not effective in today’s landscape. A broad, integrated, and automated cybersecurity mesh platform is essential for reducing complexity and increasing security resiliency. It can enable tighter integration, improved visibility, and more rapid, coordinated, and effective response to threats across the network.

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Cyber Security

Axis Communications Sheds Light on Video Surveillance Industry Perspectives on AI

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1 week ago

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May 12, 2025

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Axis Communications has published a new report that explores the state of AI in the global video surveillance industry. Titled The State of AI in Video Surveillance, the report examines the key opportunities, challenges and future trends, as well as the responsible practices that are becoming critical for organisations in their use of AI. The report draws insights from qualitative research as well as quantitative data sources, including in-depth interviews with carefully selected experts from the Axis global partner network.

A leading insight featured in the report is the unanimous view among interviewees that interest in the technology has surged over the past few years, with more and more business customers becoming curious and increasingly knowledgeable about its potential applications.

Mats Thulin, Director AI & Analytics Solutions at Axis Communications

“AI is a technology that has the potential to touch every corner and every function of the modern enterprise. That said, any implementations or integrations that aim to drive value come with serious financial and ethical considerations. These considerations should prompt organisations to scrutinise any initiative or investment. Axis’s new report not only shows how AI is transforming the video surveillance landscape, but also how that transformation should ideally be approached,” said Mats Thulin, Director AI & Analytics Solutions at Axis Communications.

According to the Axis report, the move by businesses from on-premise security server systems to hybrid cloud architectures continues at pace, driven by the need for faster processing, improved bandwidth usage and greater scalability. At the same time, cloud-based technology is being combined with edge AI solutions, which play a crucial role by enabling faster, local analytics with minimal latency, a prerequisite for real-time responsiveness in security-related situations.

By moving AI processing closer to the source using edge devices such as cameras, businesses can reduce bandwidth consumption and better support real-time applications like security monitoring. As a result, the hybrid approach is expected to continue to shape the role of AI in security and unlock new business intelligence and operational efficiencies.

A trend that is emerging among businesses is the integration of diverse data for a more comprehensive analysis, transforming safety and security. Experts predict that by integrating additional sensory data, such as audio and contextual environmental factors caught on camera, can lead to enhanced situational awareness and greater actionable insights, offering a more comprehensive understanding of events.

Combining multiple data streams can ultimately lead to improved detection and prediction of potential threats or incidents. For example, in emergency scenarios, pairing visual data with audio analysis can enable security teams to respond more quickly and precisely. This context-aware approach can potentially elevate safety, security and operational efficiency, and reflects how system operators can leverage and process multiple data inputs to make better-informed decisions.

According to the Axis report, interviewees emphasised that responsible AI and ethical considerations are critical priorities in the development and deployment of new systems, raising concerns about decisions potentially based on biased or unreliable AI. Other risks highlighted include those related to privacy violations and how facial and behavioural recognition could have ethical and legal repercussions.

As a result, a recurring theme among interviewees was the importance of embedding responsible AI practices early in the development process. Interviewees also pointed to regulatory frameworks, such as the EU AI Act, as pivotal in shaping responsible use of technology, particularly in high-risk areas. While regulation was broadly acknowledged as necessary to build trust and accountability, several interviewees also stressed the need for balance to safeguard innovation and address privacy and data security concerns.

“The findings of this report reflect how enterprises are viewing the trend of AI holistically, working to have a firm grasp of both how to use the technology effectively and understand the macro implications of its usage. Conversations surrounding privacy and responsibility will continue but so will the pace of innovation and the adoption of technologies that advance the video surveillance industry and lead to new and exciting possibilities,” Thulin added.

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Cyber Security

Rising Cyber Insurance Pressures Push UAE Firms to Fix Identity Silos and AI Vulnerabilities

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2 weeks ago

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May 5, 2025

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CyberArk has announced the release of the CyberArk 2025 Identity Security Landscape Report, a global survey revealing how organizations are inadvertently creating a new identity-centric attack surface through growing use of AI and cloud. The report shows that machine identities are mostly unknown and uncontrolled within organizations, while the primary roadblocks to Agentic AI adoption in the UAE involve security concerns around external manipulation and sensitive access, signposting the emergence of a new and potent identity security challenge.

“The race to embed AI into environments has inadvertently created a new set of identity security risks centered around the access of unmanaged and unsecured machine identities – and the privileged access of AI agents will represent an entirely new threat vector,” said Craig Harwood, Area VP for Africa and the Middle East at CyberArk. “For UAE organizations to stay resilient, CISOs and security leaders must modernize their identity security strategies to contend with a new and expanding attack surface characterized by the proliferation of identities with privileged access and made worse by damaging identity silos.”

‘Rise of the machines’ contributes to unsecured privilege sprawl: Machine identities, driven primarily by cloud and AI, now vastly outnumber human identities within organizations and nearly half have sensitive or privileged access. However, many enterprises leave both human and machine access to critical systems under-secured. There are 82 machine identities for every human in organizations worldwide.

In 92% of UAE organizations, the definition of a ‘privileged user’ applies solely to human identities – but 42% of machine identities have privileged or sensitive access. Fifty two percent do not have identity security controls in place to secure cloud infrastructure and workloads. Fifty four percent of UAE organizations experienced at least two successful identity-centric breaches in the past 12 months, ranging from supply chain attacks and compromised privileged access to identity and credential theft.

AI is everywhere and identity-centric agentic AI risk looms: Sanctioned and unsanctioned adoption of AI and large language models (LLMs) is simultaneously transforming organizations while amplifying cybersecurity risks. Concerns around the emergence of AI agents in the UAE and their privileged access underscores the urgency for targeted identity security investment. AI will drive the creation of the greatest number of new identities with privileged and sensitive access in 2025.

Only eighteen percent of UAE organizations have identity security controls for AI in place. Sixty percent cannot secure shadow AI usage in their organization. AI agent adoption roadblocks include manipulation and sensitive access concerns. Complexity and identity silos are overwhelming security leaders and undermining business resilience: Fragmented identity security programs and poor environmental visibility are diminishing resilience in the face of evolving cybersecurity threats. Most organizations face increased privilege-related compliance pressure.

Seventy percent of UAE respondents say identity silos are a root cause of organizational cybersecurity risk. Sixty eight percent of security professionals in the UAE agree that their organizations prioritize business efficiencies over robust cybersecurity. Human and machine identities – many of them with privileged access – are expected to double in 2025. Ninety percent of UAE organizations are under increased pressure from insurers mandating enhanced privilege controls.

CyberArk is also participating at GISEC Global 2025, taking place from 6–8 May at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The company will be present at the HELP AG stand, where it will host a dedicated pod showcasing its latest cybersecurity solutions and discuss the Identity Security Landscape report. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with CyberArk’s leadership, including Craig Harwood, Vice President for Middle East and Africa, and Laurence Elbana, Director of Sales, who will be available throughout the event.

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Market Research

SoftServe Study: 58% of Leaders Report Companies Using Inaccurate Data for Big Decisions

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1 month ago

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April 9, 2025

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SoftServe has released survey results on the state of data management in 2025, unveiling significant benefits of strong data foundations while exposing the widespread deficits in data maturity affecting most businesses. The majority of the 750 business leaders surveyed barely grasp the value of their data as 65% of all respondents believe no one at their organization understands all the data collected and how to access it. Further, 58% say key business decisions are based on inaccurate or inconsistent data – most of the time, if not always – raising concerns for companies across industries and borders.

This study, commissioned by SoftServe and conducted by Wakefield Research, assesses data readiness in enterprises by the degree of data quality, strategy, organization, investment, and governance implemented. Responses indicate a lack of knowledge in data management is coupled with an internal disconnect and noticeable divide between the C-suite, VPs, and senior management, putting entire organizations at odds when it comes to how data is used, acquired, and funded.

Key survey findings include:

  • Outdated or Misaligned Strategies: Many think it’s time to hit ‘refresh’ on their data strategy as 73% report major updates or a complete overhaul is needed, and nearly all (98%) believe an updated data strategy would be required for strategic initiatives like Gen AI.
  • Leadership Divide: While less visibility among leaders can lead to skewed perceptions of data comprehension, the division grows with 78% of VPs and 61% of directors — but just 44% of those at C-level — claim their organization’s investment priorities are negatively impacted by leaders not fully understanding how data can generate value.
  • Data on Demand: For 60%, decision-makers getting access to data when they need it is a challenge – and one that may not be an easy fix, as the majority (51%) of the 58% whose organization makes most or all decisions using inaccurate or inconsistent data now believe a significant increase in data management investment is needed to meet their goals.
  • Misallocated Investments: Nearly three-fourths (73%) believe poor prioritization has diverted needed funds and talent away from valuable data projects to broad Gen AI initiatives with weaker ROI.

All deficits aside, the survey results include a silver lining: strong data management has allowed organizations to open new revenue streams (44%) or monetize their data (38%) with the right infrastructure and governance to transform information into a vital source of income. Organizations also attributed increases in productivity and efficiency (54%), as well as improved decision-making and forecasting abilities (49%), to having strong data foundations. Most respondents hope to follow suit this year as the bulk (85%) prepare to slightly or significantly increase their data budget and nearly half (42%) of those with a fully mature data strategy expect to significantly increase their overall data investments.

“An impactful data strategy is not about perfection, but prioritization,” said Rodion Myronov, AVP of Technology at SoftServe. “It’s about gaining maturity where it matters most for your business by prioritizing the missing piece of the whole data puzzle, not tossing it aside for the next shiny new toy. Establishing a mature data strategy helps reinforce organizational foundations, so you can pursue bigger and better puzzles and projects in the future.”

Survey respondents included 750 business or technology leaders responsible for data management or AI use at global companies spanning eight countries and eight industries with $1 billion or more in annual revenue.

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