The CrowdStrike 2024 Global Threat Report highlights several key insights, recent trends, and recommendations for organizations to enhance their cybersecurity posture.
Key Insights from the Report
- Speed and Stealth of Attacks: Adversaries are operating with unprecedented speed and stealth. The average eCrime breakout time has decreased from 84 minutes in 2022 to 62 minutes in 2023, with the fastest recorded breakout time being just over 2 minutes (CrowdStrike) (CrowdStrike).
- Surge in Identity-Based Attacks: Identity threats have surged, driven by the use of generative AI and tactics such as phishing, social engineering, and credential theft. This shift has led to 75% of attacks being malware-free, making detection more challenging (CrowdStrike) (CrowdStrike).
- Cloud Intrusions: There has been a 75% increase in cloud intrusions, as adversaries exploit the widespread adoption of cloud technologies, often using valid credentials to blend in with legitimate users (CrowdStrike) (TechRepublic).
- Exploitation of Third-Party Relationships: Adversaries are targeting vendor-client relationships to maximize their impact, often compromising software supply chains to spread malicious tools (CrowdStrike) (TechRepublic).
- Generative AI Risks: The misuse of generative AI for creating sophisticated phishing campaigns and malicious software is a growing concern, potentially lowering the barrier for less skilled attackers (CrowdStrike) (InfoTrust).
- Geopolitical Threats: With numerous global elections in 2024, nation-state actors are likely to exploit these events to disrupt the electoral process or sway public opinion through misinformation (InfoTrust).
Recent Trends and Threats
- Interactive Intrusions: The report notes a significant increase in interactive intrusions, where attackers are manually controlling attacks to evade automated defenses (CrowdStrike) (TechRepublic).
- Targeting Peripheral Networks: Adversaries are focusing on less protected peripheral network devices, such as routers and VPNs, which are often based on outdated architectures (TechRepublic).
- End-of-Life Product Exploitation: Attackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in products that are no longer supported with updates, increasing their risk (TechRepublic).
Recommendations for Organizations
- Implement Phishing-Resistant MFA: Enhance security by deploying multi-factor authentication that resists phishing attempts and extend it to all legacy systems (TechRepublic) (InfoTrust).
- Educate on Social Engineering: Conduct user awareness programs to help employees recognize and respond to phishing and social engineering attempts (TechRepublic) (InfoTrust).
- Adopt Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs): Use CNAPPs for comprehensive protection across pre-runtime, runtime, and agentless environments (TechRepublic) (InfoTrust).
- Consolidate Security Platforms: Integrate identity, cloud, endpoint, and data protection telemetry into a unified, AI-powered platform to enhance visibility and response capabilities (InfoTrust).
- Focus on Patch Management: Regularly patch exposed and end-of-life products to mitigate vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers (TechRepublic) (InfoTrust).
- Continuous Monitoring and Threat Hunting: Consider managed detection and response (MDR) services for 24/7 monitoring and faster threat detection and response (InfoTrust).
By following these recommendations, organizations can better protect themselves against the sophisticated and rapidly evolving threats outlined in the CrowdStrike 2024 Global Threat Report. For more detailed information, you can access the full report on CrowdStrike’s website.