Page 135 - Cyber Defense eMagazine February 2024

of the risk of insider threats and addressing the problem. SMEs in particular are taking insider threats
much more seriously than in recent years.

In response to these growing concerns, 75% of organizations that have protected data (PHI, PII, etc.),
valuable IP, or compliance requirements, but don’t currently have an insider threat program, will start
planning or building one in 2024. Along with that, the adoption of insider threat solutions will increase by
at least 50% as these programs develop. Some tools enterprises should consider for starting their insider
threat program are a next-gen SIEM, UEBA combined with identity and access analytics, and/or a DLP
solution to limit data exfiltration.

MSSPs and MDRs serving SMBs will grow by 25% YoY as part of a customer-driven push for
vendors to provide services rather than just selling products.

A strong demand from SMB customers for Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) and Managed
Detection and Response (MDR) providers will continue in 2024. This market growth is driven mainly by
the lack of skilled personnel to manage and maintain the appropriate systems and processes to protect
small and medium businesses from cyber attack and ransomware. This talent shortage shows every sign
of getting worse in 2024.

In response to this demand, service providers will wrap many individual services together to offer
packages to their customers to meet their current business needs and help match levels of protection to
varying budgets. This means security vendors should create multi-tenant solutions that integrate easily
with other security vendors' products and cover both cloud and on-premise environments. They should
also design their products and business practices to work well in a managed services model. This means
flexible licensing and billing models and dedicated programs and resources that support this unique go-
to-market motion through service providers to satisfy the growing market demand.

2024 will be the year of public-sector attacks and hacktivism.
The public sector domain, including the education system, the medical system and public infrastructure,
will be a primary ransomware target in 2024. This is because these systems are widely seen as easy
targets that offer attackers fame, information, and money. Public infrastructure like water and electrical
systems around the world will be increasingly targeted by nation-state actors involved in geopolitical
conflicts. These systems are not well-protected and offer a huge payoff in terms of the damage and chaos
caused by disrupting them. We will also see an increase in hacktivism activities against government
agencies and the supply chain that supports them, including DDOS attacks and APT's.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – February 2024 Edition 135
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