Cyber ​​attacks on companies in 2024 will double the figures recorded in 2023 | artificial intelligence

The estimate of cyber attacks that companies will suffer during the second half of 2024 has increased by 39 percent, doubling last year’s figures, which is translates into consequences They will cost organizations 10 billion euros this year, according to NTT DATA.

NTT DATA’s Cyber ​​Threat Intelligence team, which studies global cyber threats, their impact and the focus of cybercriminals, has concluded a study that reflects the data collected in the first half of 2024, in which they point out that, of Looking to the rest of the year, the increase in connectivity and new technologies have created an environment in which threats to organizations and companies will increase proportionally.

In this sense, the technology services company has highlighted that during the second half of this year, estimated cyberattacks are expected to increase by 39 percent, doubling the numbers of attacks recorded in 2023.

This will entail a series of risks that companies will have to take into account in the budget, since cyber attacks will cost companies close to 10 billion euros in 2024, according to NTT DATA. Either by hiring security services as a form of protection against malicious actions or as part of the investment in solutions against attempted cyberattacks.

Following this line, the company’s cybersecurity group has pointed out that emerging technologies are causing the evolution in cybersecurity to take a new perspective, specifically, due to the potential development of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), which “drives cyber threats.”

Specifically, as they explained in a statement, the evolution of generative AI “gives malicious actors weapons to develop ‘malware’.” In addition, it also facilitates the proliferation of social engineering methods, such as identity theft, the creation of ‘fake news’ or jumping barriers such as CAPTCHA, all in order to carry out bad practices.

In fact, according to data collected by NTT DATA, the use of AI in cyberattacks, in any of its many formats, has seen an increase of 600 percent in less than a year. Likewise, the report indicates that among the main types of attacks registered during the first half of the year, ‘ransomware’, DDoS attacks and ‘phishing’ attacks stand out.

As indicated by the partner responsible for cybersecurity at NTT DATA in Spain, Miguel Ángel Thomas, companies are facing a time of great growth in cyber threats, given that these are “times of a society of on-demand services.” In this framework, as he has pointed out, cybercriminals “are not left behind” and carry out cyberattacks “on demand.”

Taking all this into account, Thomas has stressed that the problem lies in the fact that “the high rate of digitalization is not accompanied by comparative protection against threats.” This affects sectors “fundamental to the functioning of society” and, therefore, can cause problems and consequences that can “paralyze a large part of socioeconomic activity,” he warned.

Europe registers the highest increase in cyber attacks

NTT DATA has also shared that, if this threat is analyzed by continent, Europe has recorded the largest increase in cyberattacks in 2024, with a year-on-year increase of 64 percent.

This is due, in part, to its high degree of digitalization of the public sector and the regulatory environments that, according to technology, can cause organizations to be “more vulnerable or visible targets.”

In the same way, among the most affected sectors, NTT DATA has indicated that government areas register more attempts at cyber attacks, given their commitment to “digitize citizen services,” as they have pointed out.

Likewise, below public administrations, the areas with the most threats from malicious actors are services, and then, the transportation, technology and retail sectors, which have increasingly more online users, as as NTT DATA has highlighted in its report.