SINDHU KASHYAP SENIOR CONTENT STRATEGIST,

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, INTELLIGENT GLOBAL MEDIA

The latest attack causing outcry has been to several European airports including Heathrow, resulting in delays, disruption and cancelled flights for many travellers.

Those affected are continuing to battle with the repercussions and it has since been reported that the incident – believed to be a ransomware attack on aviation IT provider, Collins Aerospace – targeted widely used check-in technology.

The occurrence highlights the urgent need to incorporate cyber-resilience into critical infrastructure. Jeremy Samide, CEO of Blackwired, believes that, currently, those protecting critical infrastructure appear to be‘ sleeping at the wheel’.

There is an urgent requirement for the sector to take a more proactive approach to cybersecurity, rather than reactive, he said, adding that this attack didn’ t happen overnight and hackers have been planning it for weeks, if not months.

A more proactive approach, he believes, could have ultimately avoided the attack.

“ The industry at large is built upon a bedrock of hardware and software that is designed to wait for an attack to hit – protecting a perimeter that doesn’ t exist anymore,” he said.“ Threat actors today are taking

advantage of this by doubling down on polymorphic malware and AI-driven threats. When we see attacks like this, experience has proven that they know more about the target’ s network and systems than those

currently employed to defend it.”

It’ s incidents such as these which highlight the importance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month – occurring every October – spotlighting the need to protect our systems and infrastructure.

The EU Agency for Cybersecurity( ENISA) is doing just this, focusing on promoting security in the digital world where this year’ s campaign theme is social engineering, a prevalent cybersecurity threat in the digital landscape.

ENISA will be promoting materials created by Member States on scams, AI and deepfakes, smishing, secure settings and materials for students.

In addition, ENISA is producing a series of miniinterviews with representatives from EU Member States, on the ways that their different cultures and mentalities influence the character of cybersecurity awareness campaigns and target-audience approach.

Having complete insight into the cybersecurity threat landscape of your supply chain is critical and it’ s possible to agree with Samide when he says that organisations need to embrace a‘ defend forward’ approach to cybersecurity to avoid becoming the next victim.“ It’ s time for the cybersecurity industry to stop sensationalising threat actors with cartoons, patting each other on the back for a job not well done and instead take the gloves off and fight fire with fire.” p

18 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www. intelligentcio. com