As we venture into 2024, Bill Rucker, President of Trustwave Government Solutions, shares his insights on the evolving landscape of cybersecurity.
Bill Rucker, President, Trustwave Government Solutions
The US Government Will Do More in 2024 to Keep Pace with Technological Innovations such as AI and Quantum Computing
The Executive Order on AI shows that this is a known concern that requires more investment. According to the recent roadmap announcement, CISA also has an AI investment focus. AI can be beneficial to businesses in many ways, but it also presents many risks, including the innovations it will give nation-states and bad actors to improve their attack methods and adversarial planning.
Quantum computing power changes the threat landscape immediately and makes things previously impossible a reality. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is investing in this to make further advancements. What truly concerns me is how a threat actor could use quantum in adversarial actions.
The Political Climate Will Continue to Be in Unchartered Waters with Disinformation, Deep Fakes and the Advancement of AI
In the US. election, databases were leaked in the past, and one can only assume that an attempt or possible success of a cyberattack will happen again.
AI has the ability to spread disinformation via deep fakes and in 2024 this will only continue to explode. Similarly, deep fakes and other misinformation are already prevalent today. This shows that many people do not check for authenticity, and what they see on their phones and social media becomes their idea of the truth, which only amplifies the impact. There is discourse on both sides of the aisle, particularly ahead of party elections. This alone will create an environment susceptible to spreading misinformation and encourage nation-states to interfere where they can.
The Public Sector Will have a Renewed Focus on Addressing Legacy Systems and Focus on Basic Cybersecurity Hygiene
In the coming year, there will be a growing focus on addressing the challenges posed by legacy platforms within the public sector. In 2023, over 70% of Trustwave’s penetration testing, cyber assessments, or data protection discovery have resulted in the discovery of many previously existing issues in organization’s IT systems. It’s time to refocus on basic cyber hygiene. The public sector will move past conducting compliance or basic vulnerability scanning to include a focus on protecting high-value assets and users and managing critical systems and user rights reviews. Monitoring these systems will be a more important cyber mission. To do this, agencies will partner with organizations for a greater commitment to third-party penetration testing, next-generation cyber operations, and hybrid monitoring solutions.