Brazilian companies are exposed to hacker attack risks, with a growing number of incidents. According to Check Point Software’s Threat Intelligence Report, in the third quarter of this year, the country recorded a record 95% increase in cyberattacks, totaling 2,766 cases per week compared to the same period last year. Globally, the growth compared to the third quarter of 2023 is 75% and 15% compared to the second quarter of 2024, with 1,876 threats.
The education, government (including armed forces), and healthcare sectors were the most impacted worldwide, with averages of 3,828, 2,553, and 2,434 weekly attacks, respectively.
“Hacker incursions, combined with other causes such as software and hardware issues, occasional bugs, among other cases, can be responsible for causing damages like total or partial loss of data and applications, which can severely compromise the system and business continuity,” reveals Thiago Tanaka, Cybersecurity Director at TIVIT, a Brazilian multinational that connects technology for a better world.
According to Tanaka, the best alternative to reduce the chances of attacks is through the adoption of preventive measures. Check out 3 tips below:
- Having a well-structured security plan supported by the company’s board and executives. Even if the cybersecurity area has robust planning, it may not be enough without the necessary support to implement it.
- Study and understand the infrastructure through a good security assessment, which will identify all vulnerability points, indicate which tools and software should be implemented or updated, and suggest possible process changes to make the environment more secure.
- Implement an awareness plan for employees so they don’t fall for scams that could put the company’s network at risk. Campaigns and messages with this focus need to be reinforced constantly to help sustain the idea of vigilance.
“These actions, when well applied, help significantly reduce the chances of problems with security threat events. However, if the organization still faces an unexpected attack situation, it is advisable to activate the Disaster Recovery Plan, which is based on the response capacity to solve problems affecting operations. This procedure allows the company to isolate the problem, recover its environments and systems, and restore backups more quickly, thus being able to resume activities as soon as possible,” he adds.
For the Cybersecurity Director, although many companies make significant investments in cybersecurity structures, it’s important to understand what the real gaps in technology are, in addition to creating processes and having professionals capable of handling all stages of disaster situations. “It is advisable to avoid unstructured and unplanned spending on security tools. The triad formed by technologies, processes, and people is fundamental for business effectiveness,” concludes Thiago Tanaka.
