It’ s Monday morning; you sit down at your desk with a cup of coffee, ready to tackle a new week, only to be met with news of another major cyber incident targeting critical national infrastructure. 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.”

The latest attack causing an outcry has hit several European airports, including Heathrow, resulting in delays, disruptions, and canceled flights for many travelers.

It’ s incidents like these that highlight the importance of Cybersecurity Awareness Month – occurring every October – which shines a spotlight on the need to protect our systems and infrastructure.

Those affected are still dealing with the repercussions, and it has since been reported that the incident – believed to be a ransomware attack on an aviation IT provider – 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 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 a reactive one, he said, adding that this attack didn’ t happen overnight and that hackers had been planning it for weeks, if not months.

A more proactive approach, he believes, could have ultimately prevented 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

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

ENISA will be promoting materials created by Member States on scams, AI and deepfakes, smishing, secure settings, and student-focused resources.

In addition, ENISA is producing a series of mini-interviews with representatives from EU Member States, exploring how their different cultures and mindsets influence the character of cybersecurity awareness campaigns and approaches to target audiences.

Having complete insight into the cybersecurity threat landscape of your supply chain is critical, and it’ s easy to agree with Samide when he says that organizations need to embrace a“ defend forward” approach to cybersecurity to avoid becoming the next victim.“ It’ s time for the cybersecurity industry to stop sensationalizing 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 NORTH AMERICA www. intelligentcio. com

Intelligent CIO North America Issue 62 | Page 18

Cybersecurity Awareness Month spotlights need for more proactive measures