Huntsville is a hub of technology and innovation, making it a lucrative target for cybersecurity threats. As Huntsville surges in population and economic growth, the city is becoming a prime target for cybercriminals.

Cyber threats have become a pervasive issue, with malicious actors seeking to steal data, disrupt services, and extort organizations. While technical approaches used to prevent cyber attacks, like anti-virus tools, have continued to grow in sophistication, they are also largely reactive rather than proactive approaches to security.

Professionals in this area acknowledge that the human element of cybersecurity still presents a serious vulnerability within any system. For example, in 2020, Huntsville city schools were the victim of a ransomware attack that resulted in the closure of schools across the city.

Advances in Cyber Threats Continue

The scale and complexity of cybersecurity threats around the world has grown dramatically in recent years.

As the internet and cloud-based services have become more popular, organizations have become more vulnerable to hyper-targeted attacks. According to Joshua Crumbaugh, an ethical hacker with over 15 years of experience and CEO of the Huntsville-based company, PhishFirewall, the majority of hacking does not rely on the use of advanced technologies to break encryption.

Instead, hackers are more likely to rely on social engineering tactics in order to exploit the humans involved in organizational functions.

For example, Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated attack meant to target businesses. By impersonating figures of authority, either within or outside the organization, hackers are able to manipulate employees into trusting and executing malicious code which infiltrates their corporate systems.

The tactics around social engineering have also become far more sophisticated in the past 6 months as hackers are utilizing recent developments in AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, which can create more effective phishing emails that are personalized and tailored to their targets, much like an ad or marketing campaign.

In order to counteract these growing threats, PhishFirewall utilizes the latest AI technology to create sophisticated phishing simulations that mimic real-life phishing attempts. The company then relies on targeted micro-learning techniques to provide bite-sized, engaging, and customized training to employees that is based on their specific risk profile. This is a proactive approach designed to help reduce cyber risk across any business or organization.

Defense is a Full-time Business

Individuals and companies have a lot of options and concerns to consider when preparing for their cybersecurity.

Currently, one of the most important things most people and businesses can do to better protect themselves is to turn on multi-factor authentication for all of their apps and websites that contain sensitive information. This way a hacker will need to have physical access to their phone or device before they can access those accounts.

This is not foolproof, of course, as hackers can still clone sim cards or install malware onto cell phones, but these options require greater effort. Overall, multi-factor authentication has been shown to be the most effective method for keeping accounts secure.

For organizations and companies, another important step is to provide relevant security awareness training to their staff. PhishFirewall is currently working on providing their full cybersecurity awareness training content for free, starting this month. The company has also offered to provide any local business early access to this free security awareness training platform for use in training their employees.

Since Huntsville is home to a large community of cyber professionals, another great way for companies and individuals to stay up-to-date on cybersecurity news and training is by attending local cyber events.

Cyber Brews, LLC is a local business dedicated to cybersecurity training through networking and mind melding. CyberBrews hosts frequent, local events that are fun to attend but also cover in-depth cybersecurity topics, making sure that our local workforce of cybersecurity professionals stay well-informed and effective.

The Social Approach

Huntsville is also a major center for innovation when it comes to how we approach cybersecurity.

As mentioned above, CyberBrews was founded to encourage a more collaborative and engaging approach to problem-solving in the cybersecurity industry. While in-person social events had drastically declined during the pandemic, Karen Williams, the founder of CyberBrews, appreciates how valuable these after-hours gatherings can be. Social research confirms this.

In-person interactions have been shown to have multiple clear advantages over emails and Zoom meetings. Physical touch and proximity help to build trust, forge deeper personal connections, increase attention span, and make it easier to recognize social cues, such as tone and nonverbal body language.

CyberBrews is not alone, however, in providing this opportunity. Locally, one can find a great number of groups and organizations that provide in-person, social networking opportunities and training for cyber professionals.

There is CyberReach, CyberHuntsville, the North Alabama Chapter of Information System Security Association (NAC-ISSA), and Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS), just to name a few! Cybersecurity is no longer the job of one man in a dimly lit backroom. It is a team sport that requires a great deal of cross-training and cooperation.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is a serious concern for businesses nationwide. With major advancements in AI allowing for more sophisticated methods of attacks, that concern is justified. Here in Huntsville, however, we have many passionate people working hard to keep us and our data safe as we move ever onward into the 21st century.