Cyber attacks aren’t only increasing in frequency, they’re growing in speed and impact. Each year’s biggest incidents offer a valuable case study in how a lapse in patching or access control can have devastating consequences for businesses and even entire economies.
As a cybersecurity professional, you should stay up to date on the latest news and trends so that you can respond quickly to any attacks or incidents that may occur within your organization. This can help minimize damage and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
Zero-day vulnerabilities — flaws exploited before vendors release fixes — are increasingly being used by threat actors. In fact, according to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), they now account for 20% of breaches. Attackers are leveraging this knowledge to gain early access, bypass defenses and exploit multiple attack vectors such as lateral movement and data exfiltration.
The British Library suffered a massive cyber attack in late October. The attack disrupted systems, including the online catalogue and digital reading services for its customers. The company was able to restore some services but will need months to fully recover. It was one of several large attacks that hit public-sector organizations, including the ICC and a US brokerage firm, which had to stop clearing US Treasury trades and repo financing for their clients.
A well-defined cybersecurity remediation process can help you avoid costly consequences of an incident, such as business interruption, reputational damage and regulatory penalties. The goal should be to identify root causes, proactively address weaknesses and implement lessons learned from past events.
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