For a while it seemed that cybersecurity was in a good place. Cyber literacy was up, people understood what links not to click on, what sites not to visit. Yet recently this has been changing. In the jump from 2020 to 2021 alone, the rate of ransomware attacks went up 1.5 times. This type of attack has only become more common in 2022 and now in 2023. Malware and cyber attacks are becoming more robust and more common.

A big reason behind this is the time frame a lot of these attacks work on. Today detecting a breach in a computer takes over 250 days for the average security software. Yet the time between viral intrusions and attacks has been dramatically dropping. As early as 2021 the median time between the intrusion and attack was 15 days. There simply isn’t time to detect modern attacks, and that’s without mentioning how most will delete their tracks.

Another big component behind the drop in security is network dark space. Normal network infrastructure will be covered in typical firewalls, proxies, etc. Yet the increased use of encrypted networks is a double edged sword. These networks may be safer for private information, but they’re also a safe environment to host cyber attacks. These encrypted spaces are uniquely challenging to protect against and are a real issue for cyber defenses. Today 91.5% of malware attacks now arrive over encrypted connections.

Unfortunately, 41% of enterprises feel they don’t have the tools or understanding to combat this. Even modern IT professionals don’t always have quick solutions for encrypted attacks. Luckily, there are still solutions. Most prominently the popularization of Network Detection and Response (NDR) platforms. These platforms are uniquely tailored to detecting abnormal network activity, even when encrypted. 

Importantly NDR platforms are also effective at providing detailed information. It can be really hard to pinpoint where a cyber attack came from and how. NDR platforms aim to provide forensics on how things progressed and where they came from. It’s a perfect showing of how cyber security has advanced in relation to cyber attacks. 

Other new innovations focus on other missing aspects of cyber security. For example, the importance of predicting potential threats has become more important. New platforms offer threat indicators and can retain data from previous attacks to predict future ones. Newer platforms are also extremely quick, they run quickly and provide vital information when needed. Finally newer platforms innovate in how they correlate data. Multiple sources are used to produce comprehensive investigation and potential sources in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

These are just a few of the ways that modern networks have progressed. Currently, cyber attacks are doing real harm to businesses and individuals alike. Yet more and more people are realizing the need for increased security. The great thing is that these resources exist and are effective. The barrier to being safe on the internet unfortunately rises everyday. Yet so do the amount of ways in which someone can keep themselves safe. Ultimately the internet will always come with risks, but modern cyber security is working to minimize them everyday.