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Outdated software is now a bigger threat than weak passwords, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and unsecured USB sticks, according to a new study.

Cyberattacks are on the rise, with the most significant malicious activity so far detected in the finance, professional and information sectors, followed by manufacturing, according to Rapid7. Despite the increasing number of data breaches in critical sectors, there are discrepancies in how C-level executives perceive cybersecurity and the threat landscape, depending on their industry and home country.

Smart connected appliances, should they be commandeered by attackers for use in a botnet, could result in everything from local power outages to severe wide-scale blackouts a team of Princeton University researchers contended at the USENIX Security Symposium.

The vast majority of businesses think data protection is important or mission-critical for digital and IT transformation projects, but they lack the technological provisions to provide good data protection assurance.

Many companies have based their business models on collecting facts and statistics from their customers, accumulating big data which they analyze to improve not only customer experience, but also marketing, sales and product strategies. Or so they claim. The popularity of social media and digital operations have made it easier for businesses to gather reams of personal information, including emails, browsing history, habits, location, political beliefs and pretty much any other behavioral detail.

Critical national infrastructures such as the energy sector, public transportation, commercial facilities, government and defense, and medical services, among others, have been under attack in recent years, following a large volume of security vulnerabilities and a lack of encryption.

Phishing isn’t a new problem, but that fact alone doesn’t mean that it’s an easy one for companies to protect against.

A new study by the Parliament Street think tank has revealed that the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) lost nearly 10,000 patient records between 2017 and 2018. After facing the ‘biggest ransomware’ offensive in history, NHS trusts lost hundreds of thousands of additional documents.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks aimed at disruption remain a massive problem for businesses big and small, despite the shutdown of the Webstresser DDoS-for-hire service. Attackers are also increasingly striking outside of normal business hours, researchers have found.

Bitdefender has recently investigated a series of advanced cyberattacks aimed at financial institutions, designed to covertly exfiltrate massive amounts of money in coordinated strikes.

Cloud computing enables the much-needed speed and agility demanded in our digital economy era. Embracing the cloud can generate significant cost savings as well as new revenue streams. However, the cloud-first mindset may be sending digital businesses down a dangerous path.

Total spending on information security products and services will reach more than $114 billion globally in 2018, an increase of 12.4% from last year, according to advisory company Gartner.