When Small Gap Leads to Big Breaches

 

Not all cyber-attacks start with clever malicious code. Sometimes, it begins with an unknown account still active in the background, or a support call that felt just a little too normal, that granted access to the adversary, or a clever AI-generated phishing email that mimics your friend.

Snowflake, 2024 - Attackers used stolen credentials to get into cloud accounts.

MGM & Caesars, 2023 - Social engineering were enough to take down casinos.

MOVEit, 2023 - A hidden flaw in the file transfer package gave attackers access to data.

They were quiet, effective and noisy.

They worked because someone, somewhere, had more access than needed.

Because a token was alive.

Because temporary access turned permanent.

Because there is no multi-layer authentication.

And now, an interesting time as attackers' AI collaboration makes things worse.

Fake voice-videos are so convincing. (Scammers used deepfake to impersonate the Hong Kong-based employees during a video conference, convincing the employees to transfer about 25 million)

Smart malicious codes: A new breed of malware that bypasses EDR solutions becomes a normal thing as AI code generation becomes smoother: Jailbreak

So, what can we do?

Here's the truth: security isn't just about tools and tech. It's about culture.

Are you actively monitoring your remote services?

Who has it? How does a multi-layer check work?

How are your integrated apps communicating "in-out" and why?

Are your users ready for AI-brewed email scripts?

When we get those parts right, we close the quiet, simple doors before someone walks through them.