Is it just me or has 2023 been the year of the data breach? Maybe they are just larger or more widely reported. Just seems like there have been a fuck-ton of them this past year.
While true, I'm not convinced that fully explains it. Having been in IT nearly 2 decades I feel like the second piece is cybersecurity budgets getting slashed. A lot of them have been super-basic shit like someone clicking on a malicious link.
Oh for sure, didnt mean to imply it was the only reason.
Spearphishing high-value targets, or even just phishing a company's email roster are very very common practices because they yield significant results.
Theres also the "insurance approach" to cybersecurity, where its cheaper to run PR for a little while and/or take out insurance policies against cyber attacks such as ransomware. The latter is a key factor as to why many companies dont mind paying the ransom at all.
I don't think the problem is "we" securing things (we being cybersecurity professionals). I think the problem is companies seeing that it's cheaper to take the PR hit, pay the ransom, pay for cybersecurity insurance, etc than it is to pay for a properly secured network.
Cybersecurity is hard (citation needed) and costs a lot of money (citation needed). If a company figures it's cheaper to have a breach and deal with the fallout than it is to properly secure shit I can promise you what will happen.
Profit > Security. These companies don't care so long as the consequences don't affect profit significantly enough. Infosec is always an afterthought, if considered at all.