IT security risks continue to become more challenging, not just because of the new technologies of systems and applications, but also because of the size and stature of criminal organizations involved in malicious cyber activity.
Over the course of the past 18-24 months, there has been a documented increase of involvement from politically and socially motivated hacking groups, cyber criminals and government-sponsored cyber organizations. These groups have a great number of technical resources available to them, and in many cases, a large financial backing. As a result, they are able to create complex, automated and programmatic solutions designed to detect the existence of vulnerabilities, as well as install malware and viruses onto vulnerable devices without manual intervention. Once a device is detected and/or an application is installed, information can be gathered automatically. For high-value targets, individual attackers can be dispatched to infiltrate the located systems and gather their bounty.