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Table of Contents

• Cybersecurity Insights from Q3 2024

  • 1. Cybersecurity Investments, Funding & Trends

  • 2. Cyber Incidents, Ransomware Attacks & Data brea …

  • 3. Guidance, Standards & Regulations - Notable Upd …

  • 4. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Guidance & Regula …

  • Conclusion

• Insights from My Recent Engagements:

• My Ask

Hi Securing Things Community,

Hope you all had a great Q3 2024 and are about to close even a greater Q4 2024. In this newsletter edition, I am excited to present some of the key Cybersecurity (IT, OT/ICS, AI, Open source) insights from Q3 2024 from the industry, insights from my recent engagements, and sharing my most viewed social media posts.

Cybersecurity Insights from Q3 2024

The third quarter of 2024 remained uncertain for cybersecurity industry, with major investment shifts, notable cyber incidents, evolving regulations, and AI advancements. Key insights are categorized into four sections below.

1. Cybersecurity Investments, Funding & Trends

• According to crunch base, Venture capital investments in cyber startups fell 51% to $2.1 billion in Q3 2024. Large funding rounds of $100 million or more decreased significantly, with only four in Q3 compared to ten in Q2. This highlights the inconsistent pace of investments, as Q2 was the strongest since 2022 with $4.3 billion. The number of deals also dropped, with only 115 rounds in Q3, a 35% decrease from Q2. Despite this, Q3 saw a 24% year-over-year increase in total investment. Notable Q3 deals included Kiteworks raising $456 million, Abnormal Security $250 million, Vanta $150 million, and Chainguard $140 million. In Q2, Wiz had the largest round, raising $1 billion.

• According to Pinpoint Search Group's research team Q3 report, Cybersecurity funding declines in Q3 2024, recorded 86 transactions in the cybersecurity vendor space, totalling $2.15 billion across 73 funding rounds and 13 M&A events. This represents approximately an 18 percent decrease in transaction volume from 89 in Q3 2023 and a five percent decrease in fundraising from the previous year's $2.3 billion.

  

• The global Security Testing Market size is projected to grow from USD 14.5 billion in 2024 to USD 43.9 billion by 2029 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 24.7% during the forecast period, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets™.

• Cybersecurity Mergers & Acquisitions: Q3 2024, continued to see a number of mergers & acquisitions, with overall M&A activity improving slightly compared to previous quarters but remained below historical levels.

  M&As in Q3 2024 were:

  • Notable cybersecurity M&A Transactions announced in Q3 2024 by Solganick. Interesting to see Visa and Master card making strategic security investments.

  • 36 Deals announced in August 2024 per report from Security Week.

  Looking at the above list, its noted that 43% Security Operations related product saw the most activity, followed by investments in Data Protection products category.

• Emerging Trends: Despite the funding decline, there is a marked increase in interest towards cybersecurity startups focusing on automation and data protection solutions. The average round size for early-stage funding remained stable at approximately €6.5 million, with the UK leading in both the number of funded companies and total investment, according to ESCO.

What’s your take on the most interesting M&As? type in comments below.

2. Cyber Incidents, Ransomware Attacks & Data breaches

Just like Q2, 2024 has been no short of cybersecurity news related to ransomware attacks and data breaches with millions of records stolen or leaked from all over the world. Here’s some insights on Cybersecurity Incidents in Q3 2024:

• Ransomware Trends: According to ReliaQuest, ransomware activity increased by 2.3% in Q3 2024 compared to the previous quarter, with a total of 1,266 organizations listed on ransomware data-leak sites. The group “RansomHub” became the most active ransomware group, experiencing an 800% surge in activity, largely due to its favourable profit-sharing model for affiliates.

• Top 10 Malware Q3 2024 - By: The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS®) Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) team at the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®). In Q3 2024, the Top 10 Malware observed via the MS-ISAC’s monitoring services changed moderately from the previous quarter. The downloader, SocGholish, continued to lead as the top malware, making up 42% of the list. Following SocGholish were the downloaders LandUpdate808 and ClearFake. This quarter marked the first time the MS-ISAC observed either of these downloaders in its quarterly Top 10 Malware list.

  

  Top 10 Malware Q3 2024 report by CIS

  

  Top 10 Malware Q3 2024 report by CIS

• Data Breaches: Several high-profile incidents were reported this quarter, including a significant breach at Fortinet that compromised 440GB of customer data. The average ransom payment rose to over $1.8 million, emphasizing the severe financial impact of these attacks on organizations.

• Phishing and Supply Chain Attacks: According to Haptic networks, Phishing attacks accounted for 38% of all cyber threats, with spear-phishing incidents increasing by 22% from Q2 2024. Additionally, supply chain attacks comprised 19% of all cyber incidents, highlighting a growing trend where attackers exploit vulnerabilities within third-party vendors to infiltrate larger organizations.

• And your famous Crowd Strike incident in July 2024 that needs no introduction. I ran a poll on Linkedin on who suffered the most from the incident and the results were interesting to see, with a mix of opinions between asset owners, crowdstrike, end users / people, and Microsoft even.

These incidents illustrate the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats in Q3 2024.

What was your best reads? type in comments below.

3. Guidance, Standards & Regulations - Notable Updates!

Q3 2024 also saw governments globally, announcing new laws, regulations around critical infrastructure. Similarly, several new cybersecurity industry best practices guidelines, and standards were published. Below are just few key highlights:

• New Regulations: The European Union introduced updated regulations aimed at strengthening cybersecurity frameworks across member states, emphasising the importance of risk management practices and require organisations to report significant cyber incidents within 72 hours.

• Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PSTI):

  This UK regulation aims to enhance the security of connected consumer devices, enforcing compliance with manufacturing guidelines to ensure better protection against cyber threats.

• Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): Proposed EU legislation set to take effect post-June 2024 elections, establishing cybersecurity rules for products with digital elements. It mandates risk management frameworks for ICT providers and regular resilience testing.

• Regulatory Scrutiny: In response to rising cyber threats, regulatory bodies have intensified scrutiny on organizations regarding their data protection practices. Companies are being urged to adopt more stringent security protocols to safeguard sensitive information against breaches.

These updates reflect a significant shift toward more robust cybersecurity regulations aimed at protecting both consumers and organizations in an increasingly digital landscape.

What other important regulations updates you’ve seen in Q3 2024? comment below.

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Guidance & Regulations

In Q3 2024, AI continued to saw a significant adaption and innovation in terms of integration of AI into cybersecurity, while it also saw rise of threats stemming from the use of AI. Some key findings include:

• AI Integration in Cybersecurity: There has been a notable rise in AI-driven cybersecurity solutions aimed at enhancing threat detection and response capabilities. Startups are increasingly focusing on automating security processes using AI technologies to improve operational efficiency and reduce response times..

• Ethical AI Practices: As AI becomes more integrated into cybersecurity strategies, discussions around ethical guidelines have gained traction. Organizations are encouraged to adopt responsible AI practices that prioritize user privacy and fairness while leveraging AI for security enhancements.

• Regulatory Developments on AI Use: Governments are beginning to draft regulations specifically addressing the use of AI in cybersecurity contexts. These regulations aim to ensure transparency and accountability in AI applications used for threat detection and response, reflecting a growing recognition of AI's role in modern cybersecurity frameworks.

Conclusion

These insights from Q3 2024 illustrate a rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape characterized by significant investment shifts, persistent cyber threats, regulatory advancements, and the increasing integration of artificial intelligence into security practices. Stakeholders across all sectors must remain vigilant and informed as they navigate these changes in the cybersecurity domain.

What was your best reads? type in comments below.

Insights from My Recent Engagements:

Provided advisory / consulting on a couple of requests, assessments, and a handful of short engagements ranging from OT security product evaluations, policy and other developments. A slightly better quarter compared to Q1 or Q2. Did the following:

• IT cybersecurity review and strategy presentation as part of assessment exercise.

• OT/ICS policy development.

• Evaluating 6 OT secure remote access vendor products for suitability against a manufacturing organization.

• Deployed a Asset Attack Surface Management tool to perform discovery work.

• And more.

Common theme across the prospect discussions and or engagements were:

• Small to medium size businesses, still struggle to allocate the right focus and funding on cybersecurity activities both on IT side and more importantly manufacturers on the OT side, despite having previous minor incidents.

• Configuration Hygiene and flat network designs are pretty common place. In one case, even saw password brute force attempts on perimeter device, due to unnecessary exposed services.

• CISO’s reporting to CIO’s often saw differing and conflicting opinions on priorities.

Besides these few updates on the offerings in case you missed:

• Released brief introduction video on IT-OT CySEAT Training, and recently decided to change the name to reflect it better from awareness to CySEAT as Cyber Security Education and Transformation. See the updated page, working on with the option to offer a certification as STCCP. Also, a teaser for an assignment presentation on IT-OT CySEAT course. The 40% launch discount is still applicable while it last.

• And also a teaser for Master class on Singapore CCOP standards.

• Finalised and launch digital products on Academy related to OT.

My Ask

I invite #SecuringThings community to share their feedback.

Your feedback and input is invaluable to me as we work together to strengthen our cybersecurity defenses and create a safer and smarter digital society. Thank you for your trust and continued support.

Do register, validate your email, and request login link to submit poll to be able to enter a chance to win a future course giveaway. Also:

Here's to Securing Things in Q4 2024 onwards! Thanks for reading - until the next edition!

It’s a Great Day to Start Securing Things for a Smart & Safer Society.

Take care and Best Regards,

M. Yousuf Faisal.

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