Why Cybersecurity Threats Are Growing
Why Cybersecurity Threats Are Growing
https://time.com/7382979/cybersecurity-threats-are-growing/
Publish Date: 2026-03-07 06:12:00
Source Domain: time.com
Cybersecurity threats move at an overwhelming pace—and often go unnoticed. The fact that these are invisible threats that are easily overshadowed by actual physical dangers makes them even more insidious. Fueled by complacency and our tendency to stick with familiar routines, these threats are becoming more dangerous every day.
Despite several high-profile breaches over the past year, many organizations still treat cybersecurity as a compliance requirement rather than an operational imperative. But this approach can be costly. Worldwide, the average cost of a single data breach is aproximately $4.44 million. In the United States alone, cyberattacks cost companies more than $10 million between March 2024 and February 2025.
And yet, too many companies prioritize efficiency and convenience for their employees over cybersecurity best practices. For instance, not enough businesses insist on multi-factor authentication for logging into company computers, with authentication on a separate device being one of the requirements. Using biometrics as part of logins can speed up this process and improve security, but that requires an investment in technology implementation and training to use it.
In deferring to employee convenience, companies are not being proactive enough. They must play offense against the rising tide of attacks from hackers.
As AI advances, companies that fail to treat cybersecurity with the same urgency as physical security risk unprecedented vulnerability.
AI’s impact on cybersecurity
Cybersecurity risks are expected to rise in the near future, in no small part due to AI, which is likely to accelerate the pace of cybersecurity attacks and change the nature of cybersecurity in ways we don’t yet understand.
For instance, deepfakes will become more advanced and prevalent over time. Last year in Hong Kong, an employee was tricked into sending $25 million to fraudsters who used deepfake recreations of the company’s CFO and other colleagues to…
