Third-party breaches increased in 2023, but fewer companies were impacted

Companies responsed faster to cyber attacks

2 min. read

Updated onMarch 25, 2024

updated onMarch 25, 2024

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We have discussed the rise incyber attacks powered by artificial intelligenceand how security analysts have a challenging task ahead of them. If fighting individual threat actors wasn’t enough, companies now have to tackle advanced AI-based threats.

As expected, third-party breaches witnessed an uptick in 2023, according to a report byBlack Kite. The number in2023stood at81, while it was63in2022, a28.5%increase. Surprisingly, the list of affected companies fell to251, compared to298last year.

According to the report,Technical Serviceswere the most affected, followed byHealthcare Services,Software, andIT Management. Ever since COVID-19, more and more companies have gone digital without deploying the necessary security protocols, leading to a rise in third-party breaches.

Black Kitefound unauthorized network access to be the primary cause of breaches, responsible for nearly50%of the cases. This highlights the fact that threat actors are now employing advanced technologies to gain access to systems!

Also, attacks created weak spots in the company’s network, which left them vulnerable to future attacks.

However, a promising trend emerged last year. Companies have swiftly responded to third-party breaches, contained the damage, and quickly reported the incident. The reporting time fell to76days in2023, compared to108in2022.

The report goes on to state that theCLOPgroup took advantage of every vulnerability across systems and platforms and was the primary source of data leaks.

The report also warns against the increased integration of artificial intelligence and losing focus on cyber security. It states that companies are now spending more money on AI and less on developing an efficient security infrastructure, which makes them an easy target!

On the other hand, artificial intelligence has emerged as a helping hand for security analysts.Microsoft Security Copilotuses AI to break down the scripts in the malware, contains the damage, and helps deploy fixes company-wide in no time.

So, while AI helped threat actors with breaches last year, the next few will witness security analysts deploying it as an effective defence mechanism. Companies like Microsoft will pump more money into the development of such tools because of the growing demand!

You can read the full report on theofficial website.

What’s your prediction for the next few years? Share with our readers in the comments section.

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Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

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Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

Third-party breaches increased in 2023, but fewer companies were impacted