Cybersecurity has reached an inflection point and with the advent of remote work and connectivity, the cyberattack surface has expanded with ransomware cited as the number one concern for CISOs – especially those given the responsibility to protect SMEs.

Mobile attack vectors like phishing via SMS (smishing), malicious e-mails and targeted threats are taking over said Trellix CEO Bryan Palma in his keynote presentation at the company’s Xpand Live 2022 event this week in Las Vegas.

Palma said the cybersecurity market is being driven by several factors including an expanding attack surface, the fact that nation-state attacks now target private companies and that security teams are overwhelmed.

He said these teams are short-staffed, lack skills, are faced with long hours, burnout, rules that don’t work and endless alerts.

According to the results of a survey conducted by Trellix, involving 9 000 cybersecurity professionals, 76% of respondents struggle to recruit and hire, and 62% experience difficulty in retaining staff.

The situation has added pressure for business leaders who face an uphill battle in their attempt to avoid falling victim to attacks.

“The big story here is ransomware, it’s crushing small-and-medium sized businesses. And the ones that get all the press are the large ones. But if you are someone who does ransomware, you want to go where the volume is.”

In July this year, Trellix expounded on its Threat Report: Summer 2022, with input from its Threat Labs, which showed that e-mails are being used to send malicious documents and executables like infostealers and Trojans.

Any business connected to the internet has no option but to have cyber security in place, the company stated.

Research on the cybersecurity market in Africa suggests that insider threats, targeted attacks using phishing, cloud-related attacks and ransomware are listed as among the top threats to business security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Trellix, formed after a merger of cyber security brands McAfee Enterprise and FireEye (part of the Symphony Technology Group (STG)) has reworked its brand and the company has established a new management team to help it achieve its vision to become the market leader in XDR.

Palma said that the company has worked hard to launch a new brand and identity, and organised a new management team to action its channel-centric and platform agnostic, open solution approach.

In January this year, he was quoted as saying: “As today’s organisations push to achieve digital transformation, a strong security foundation is required to ensure continued innovation, growth and resiliency. Trellix’s XDR platform protects our customers as we bring security to life with automation, machine learning, extensible architecture, and threat intelligence.”