As in every other field of business and technological endeavor, artificial intelligence (AI) will have a transformative impact on both attack and defense. Its impact will be felt across every one of the trends in cybersecurity in 2024.

The cyber security trends that everybody should be on high alert for as we head into 2024:

Generative AI

As AI increases in sophistication at an alarming rate, we will continue to see more sophisticated and smarter AI-powered attacks. This will range from #deepfake social engineering attempts to automated malware that intelligently adapts to evade detection. At the same time, it will help us detect, evade, or neutralize threats thanks to real-time anomaly detection, smart authentication, and automated incident response. It will also generate the next-level phishing attacks. Social engineering attacks involving tricking users into giving attackers access to systems will also increase in sophistication. Generative AI (such as ChatGPT) tools enable more attackers to make smarter, more personalized approaches, and deepfake attacks will become increasingly prevalent.

Cybersecurity as a priority

In 2024, cybersecurity is a strategic priority, because by the end of the coming year, the cost of cyber-attacks on the global economy is predicted to top $10.5 trillion.

IoT cyber-attacks

More devices talking to each other and accessing the internet means more potential “ins” for cyber attackers to take advantage of. With the work-from-home revolution continuing, the risks posed by workers connecting or sharing data over improperly secured devices will continue to be a threat.

Cyber resilience

While the focus of cyber security is on preventing attacks, the growing value placed on resilience. Developing the capability to recover in an agile manner while minimizing data loss and downtime will be a strategic priority in 2024.

Less than Zero Trust

The fundamental concept of zero trust – always verify – evolves as systems become more complex and security is integrated into business strategy. Zero trust states that there is no perimeter within which network activity can be assumed to be safe. In 2024, zero trust moves from being a technical network security model to something adaptive and holistic, enabled by continuous AI-powered real-time authentication and activity monitoring.

Cyber warfare

The most common tactics include phishing attacks designed to gain access to systems for disruption and espionage and distributed denial-of-service attacks to disable communications, public utilities, transport, and security infrastructure. Outside of warfare, major elections will take place in 2024 in countries including the US, UK, and India, and we can expect an increase in cyber-attacks aimed at disrupting the democratic process.