The article explores the toxic culture that exists within the cybersecurity industry and discusses strategies for dismantling this mindset and replacing it with a positive, growth-oriented approach. The factors fueling the toxic culture include a blame-oriented mindset, inadequate communication and collaboration, and a high-pressure work environment. The strategies for preventing a toxic culture and promoting positive change include cultivating a growth mindset, fostering open communication and collaboration, encouraging ethical behavior and decision-making, and supporting employee well-being. Additionally, the article introduces PhishFirewall, an autonomous platform that uses AI to deploy phishing simulations and offers tailor-made education to transform a company's workforce into a phish-resistant fortress.

Cyber crime is on a historic rise this year, and that means you and your employees are also more vulnerable than ever to emerging cyber threats. This Cyber Monday, making sure your workforce, remote and otherwise, understand online shopping safety basics should be a top cybersecurity priority for your organization. According to February 2022 Gallup survey, 42% of US employees have a hybrid work schedule, and 39% work entirely from home, increasing the odds that your employees are doing more online shopping on-the-clock than ever before.

One of the most common features of phishing simulations within the enterprise is landing pages that are designed to determine if users will type in their credentials. At first glance, this might seem like a good idea for identifying vulnerable employees. However, it’s actually a form of exploitation that can lead to a punitive culture within the organization.

The vast majority of employees do their level best to exercise due diligence and protect a company’s digital assets. However, many employees lack the necessary training, and The effectiveness of security awareness training efforts is largely dependent on how employees perceive the program. If staff members view it as another task that reduces their productivity and leads to more stress, they are likely to treat it like an unwelcome chore. That’s why positive employee attitudes are the bedrock of successful cybersecurity programs.

Social engineering refers to any attempt made by one bad actor to influence another person to do something. In the case of cyber security, social engineering is commonly used as a tactic to gain access to systems or credentials that allow the hacker to carry out a malicious cyber attack. If you are a frequent internet user, you must have encountered some intriguing pop-ups on your browser or notifications in your email like “congratulations, you just won an iPhone. Click here to claim,” which tries to lure you into interacting with corrupted links. These are a basic form of social engineering where a hacker is trying to impersonate a trusted source in order to have you give them your information or to have you access their trapped website.

The threat from nation state threat actors will loom much larger in 2023 as the gloves come off between the market-based democracies and authoritarian adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran. Up to now the narrative about cybersecurity has mostly centered on criminal threats. Next year will bring greater attention to state-conducted and state-sponsored cyber espionage efforts and infrastructure attacks.

The approach of the US election season is a good time to reflect on cyber threats to our political process, particularly from foreign state adversaries due to their vast resources, advanced capabilities, and malign intent. Cyber threats to our election system also come from other sources, such as hacktivists and criminal organizations, but while they too can create problems, they are not on the same scale or level of competence as those posed by autocratic states like China, Russia, and Iran.

Data breaches are becoming increasingly common occurrences, but they are also increasingly expensive. According to a recent report by IBM and the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach was estimated to be $3.86 million in 2020. This includes recovery costs, disruption to business operations, and reputational damage, as well as myriad other financial losses. Companies should strive to protect their data and information assets in order to avoid such a costly event.

Defending against cyberattacks appears to be trending in favor of hackers as the growing number of phishing attacks trick employees into downloading malware or clicking on a malicious link. That’s why companies of every size would be well-served to improve their cybersecurity awareness training and secure an affordable cyber insurance policy.

One of the biggest trends in cybersecurity expected in 2023 is the rise of AI-driven phishing attacks. These attacks are particularly dangerous because they use artificial intelligence to create customized, highly targeted messages that are designed to trick individuals into giving away sensitive information or clicking on malicious links.

Phishing attacks are a common form of cybercrime that rely on psychological manipulation to trick victims into giving away sensitive information or funds. These attacks often use cognitive biases, which are mental shortcuts that people use to make decisions quickly and easily. Here are the top five cognitive biases used in phishing attacks, along with examples of what the phish might look like for each bias.