In today’s digital age, cybersecurity isn’t just important—it’s critical. With businesses more dependent on technology than ever, the door is wide open for cyber threats.

Here’s the kicker: 66% of small businesses are sweating bullets over cybersecurity risks, yet 47% don’t even know where to start when it comes to protecting themselves. This leaves them sitting ducks for attacks that can cost a fortune.

But here’s the challenge: convincing the bigwigs to shell out for cybersecurity isn’t always easy. Sure, they get that protection matters, but they want cold, hard numbers to justify the spend.

That’s where we come in. We’ll break down how to show the real, measurable benefits of cybersecurity investments. This will not only help you make a rock-solid case for better security at your company but also show you how these investments can actually pay off.

How to Prove the Dollars and Cents of Cybersecurity

Why is it so tough to put a dollar figure on cybersecurity? The benefits often hide in the shadows, preventing disasters rather than raking in revenue. Unlike a new piece of equipment that directly boosts profits, cybersecurity is more like an insurance policy—it’s there to reduce risks, not immediately fatten the bottom line.

Technology is tearing through the workplace like a high-speed train, and if you’re not on board, you’re getting left behind. From the rise of AI to the explosion of web3, and the wild world of the metaverse, the way we work is undergoing a seismic shift. It’s not just about keeping up—it’s about staying ahead. Let’s cut through the noise and zero in on the tech trends that are reshaping the future of work in 2024 and beyond.

1. Artificial Intelligence: The Powerhouse Behind Productivity

Let’s get real—AI isn’t just some tech buzzword to toss around at cocktail parties. It’s the engine driving the modern workplace, automating the boring stuff so you can focus on what really matters: strategy, creativity, and making big moves.

AI’s been around the block, but recent breakthroughs in computing power and algorithm wizardry have taken it from theory to a game-changer. We’re talking about AI that can do it all—from crunching numbers to handling customer service, from whipping up designs to crafting products.

But don’t get too cozy. AI brings a heap of challenges. Ethical landmines, social shake-ups, and the potential to upend the workforce as we know it. The key? Adopt AI smartly, keep it human-focused, and make sure your team is equipped to roll with the changes.

In today's digital world, technology is a key driver of efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. For small businesses, modernizing workforce technology presents a unique opportunity to enhance operations, but it can also be a daunting challenge.

Adopting the latest technology can empower small businesses to excel in the digital age. Yet, many struggle to keep pace with modernization. In fact, over 30% of small businesses haven’t upgraded their systems in more than four years.

Several factors contribute to this reluctance to upgrade, including:

• Limited financial resources
• Uncertainty about how to approach modernization
• A belief that the "old way" is still sufficient

However, the benefits of upgrading are significant. Research shows that 45% of businesses that modernize their technology see an improved return on their IT investments. Other advantages include better employee retention, reduced cybersecurity risks, and increased productivity.

If your small business is ready to modernize its workforce technology, here are some essential steps to guide you:

Unlock the power of seamless integration and enhanced connectivity with Elevate for Teams Advanced. This robust solution merges Elevate's global cloud-based calling and SMS capabilities directly into your Microsoft Teams interface. Experience the ease of handling all your communication needs within the Teams app, optimizing your workflow and boosti...

In our previous brief, PinnacleOne brought executive attention to the likely future developments of AI’s application to offensive cyber operations.

This week, we focus decision-makers on the ten strategic challenges that will define a new global disorder.

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Insight Focus | The New Global Disorder

Classifying AI like nuclear physics secrets. Banning sales of foreign chip products that only tangentially touch U.S. tech. Adding more Chinese chipmaking firms to the Restricted List. Cajoling allies to cut-off more chipmaking tool sales. These are just a few of the recent signs that the Tech War is heating up as the economic and national security stakes drive U.S. policymakers to escalate in the face of increasing strategic challenges.

Streamline and Save with Managed IT ServicesAs your business evolves, so do your IT needs—digitization, network management, security, and mobile support. Meeting these demands can be challenging and costly, but it doesn't have to be. Managed IT services provide exceptional care, often at a comparable or even lower cost than maintaining an in-house ...

The Good | Interpol-Led Operation Cracks Down on West African Cybercrime Syndicates

The axe has fallen hard on West African crime syndicates as part of Operation Jackal III, a months-long law enforcement effort run across 21 countries. This week, Interpol reported some 300 arrests, the identification of over 400 suspects, 720 blocked bank accounts, and the seizure of $3 million in illicit funds, all to dismantle multiple criminal networks globally.

Amongst the affected crime syndicates, Black Axe has been a prominent plague within Africa and across the world. Their operations span human trafficking, drug smuggling, violent crimes, and significant cases of cyber fraud where victims were forced to sell their homes as a result of the scams. Believed to have been in operation for decades, Black Axe is closely linked to business email compromise (BEC) schemes, ‘romance’ fraud, and other identity scams.

In Argentina, authorities cracked down on a Nigerian-based transnational criminal infrastructure using millions in ‘supernotes’, counterfeit banknotes of very high quality, to open bank accounts in various countries in South America. Portuguese authorities similarly dismantled another Nigerian group that was laundering funds from online scam victims all across Europe. The data found on the seized devices revealed a mass network of cryptocurrency transactions indicative of a sophisticated money laundering operation.

The financial fraud industry is a dangerous and extensive one in West Africa, highlighting the success of the operation in reducing the ability for organized crime leaders to develop and extend their reach. Cross-border collaboration continues to be instrumental in combating deep-rooted criminal networks. Interpol currently has 196 member countries and works with national police forces to exchange intelligence and provide real-time access to databases leading to more efficient arrests.

The Bad | Flaws in SAP AI Core Expose Sensitive Customer Data & Allow Service Takeovers

Cybersecurity researchers this week reported on five critical security flaws in SAP AI Core, a cloud-based platform for creating and deploying AI workflows, which could be exploited to access tokens and customer data. The flaws, dubbed “SAPwned”, could allow attackers to infiltrate customers’ data and contaminate internal artifacts, potentially spreading to other services and environments.

Starting this week, Apple is releasing all-new series and films captured in Apple Immersive Video that will debut exclusively on Apple Vision Pro.

Design and construction decisions should be forward-thinking, considering environmental impacts across the entirety of the facility's lifespan — from initial installation, through maintenance, to expansion.

Apple TV+ today landed a record 72 Emmy Award nominations across 16 broadly celebrated Apple Originals.

With its focus on metal building systems, this MBMA guide fills a specific need in the market and positions the metal building industry as a leader in the energy efficiency space.

Apple teams up with experts in affordable housing development to launch the new Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund.

This symbiotic relationship also has implications for data centers. Several decades into the 21st century, the rise of digital transactions and the pivotal role of data centers highlight a critical challenge: the need for robust and sustainable energy infrastructure.

Elevate Technology: Enhance Security with Advanced Password ManagementBreached or stolen passwords are a significant cybersecurity issue, contributing to over 80% of data breaches. Hackers exploit weak, stolen, or reused passwords to gain unauthorized access, making secure password management crucial. In an era where passwords are integral to our d...

Within data centers, physical security technology emerges as an unexpected but strong ally in the pursuit of sustainability objectives.

In our previous brief, PinnacleOne highlighted the flashpoint risk in the South China Sea between the Philippines, its treaty allies – the U.S. and China.

This week, we focus executive attention on the likely future developments of AI’s application to offensive cyber operations.

Please subscribe to read future issues — and forward this newsletter to interested colleagues.

Contact us directly with any comments or questions: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Insight Focus | AI for Offensive Cyber Operations Isn’t Here…Yet

The hand of AI used in offensive cyber operations won’t have obvious fingerprints. Defenders are unlikely to find a fully autonomous agent on their network hacking away. Not only would attackers be risking a (currently) incredibly valuable system to discovery, but such a maneuver lacks something very important to the people executing attacks: control. Governments use many different legal frameworks, organizational structures, and oversight mechanisms to ensure that hacking operations are run intentionally, with acceptable risks, and (sometimes) deniability. Deploying a fully autonomous agent into a hostile environment creates so many unacceptable risks that it may only ever happen if innovations in defense compel it. Currently, it’s sufficiently easy to achieve most offensive objectives without AI.

Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) has been the foundational technology of effective detection and response programs for many years, providing security teams with unparalleled visibility and response capabilities across end user systems, cloud workloads, and servers. While this remains true today, security operation centers (SOC) and incident response (IR) teams need additional capabilities ‘beyond the endpoint’ to protect modern enterprise environments.

In this blog post, learn how SentinelOne is extending the scope of our MDR service to provide 24×7 detection and response coverage across endpoint, cloud, identity, email, network, and beyond.

The Evolution of Endpoint Detection

In the early days of security monitoring and incident response, security teams relied primarily on network telemetry to identify and investigate cyber attacks. Direct visibility into activity on endpoints and servers was extremely limited, requiring SOC analysts and incident responders to infer what was happening within their environment based on network traffic to and from these systems.

This network-focused approach was reasonably effective – primarily because most network traffic was unencrypted, adding to the amount of alert ‘noise’ and making real threats hard to miss. However, as threats continued to evolve and encrypted network traffic became the norm, defenders struggled to maintain visibility into the infrastructure they were responsible for protecting.

Effective endpoint protection and endpoint detection and response (EPP/EDR) changed everything. Defenders gained full visibility into endpoint activity, such as detection of malware and other malicious activity, process execution, file system access, and network telemetry. Once a threat was identified, defenders could pivot quickly to incident response, collecting additional forensic artifacts, terminating malicious processes, and isolating compromised systems from the network thus limiting further incident scope and impact.

Apple today introduced HomePod mini in midnight, made with 100 percent recycled mesh fabric.

In many data centers, water-cooled chillers are paired with an open- or closed-circuit cooling tower for heat rejection. 

The Good | Feds Dismantle Major GenAI-Based Bot Farm Spreading Pro-Russian DisInformation Campaigns

In a joint international operation led by the FBI, law enforcement have seized two domain names and nearly a thousand social media accounts all controlled by a large bot farm dedicated to spreading Russian propaganda. Under the management of a Russian FSB officer and a deputy editor-in-chief at news organization Russia Today (RT), the bots have spread disinformation campaigns globally through a generative AI-based software called Meliorator since 2022. Based on the FBI’s findings, RT leadership have been focused on expanding their information dissemination beyond traditional television.

Meliorator allowed the bot farm operators to create highly convincing X (formerly Twitter) profiles and personas designed to amplify Russian foreign interest as well as false narratives in order to sway public opinion and fuel discord online. As of June 2024, the functionality of the generative AI software was limited to X, but the FBI are predicting its expansion into other social networks with time. Use of Meliorator has been seen across Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Ukraine, and the United States.

As part of the joint operation, the two domains mlrtr[.]com and otanmail[.]com used to register the bots were seized alongside 968 X accounts directly linked to RT’s bot farm. This is a first major action in disrupting Russian state-sponsored social media bot farms. A joint advisory between all involved global law enforcement agencies provides a technical breakdown of the Meliorator software, recommended mitigation measures, and a list of resources on combating malign influence and disinformation campaigns. X has since suspended the remaining bot accounts listed in court documents for violating the platform’s terms of service.

The Bad | Scammers Leverage Over 700 Domains to Sell Fake Tickets to Olympic Events

As anticipation for the Olympics mounts, threat actors are ramping up their large-scale fraud campaigns designed to target hopeful buyers seeking tickets to the Paris Summer games. Security researchers tracking the activity have dubbed the campaign ‘Ticket Heist’ where threat actors offer fake tickets to Olympic events and other major sports games, concerts, and music festivals.

Researchers found that the threat actor began registering domains in 2022, averaging 20 new registrations each month since. With online hype surrounding the Olympic games and discussion about the International Olympic Committee’s ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes rising, analysts tuned in to monitor increasingly suspicious activities. They uncovered 708 domains hosting convincing websites all selling fake tickets and accommodation options for the summer games.