When most people think about cyberattacks, they picture a sudden breach — an email hack, stolen credit card numbers, or a ransomware note popping up on a screen. But in reality, many attacks leave behind digital clues long before they strike. That’s where threat maps come in. These interactive tools show where attacks are happening around the world in real time, giving cybersecurity experts a bird’s-eye view of the global threat landscape.
Ever wonder how cybersecurity experts know what hackers are planning? The answer lies in cyberthreat intelligence, a behind-the-scenes field that’s less about flashy firewalls and more about detective work. It’s like digital espionage, where analysts gather clues from hacker forums, dark web marketplaces, malware samples, and even leaked chats to understand who the attackers are, what they want, and how they operate.
Cyberthreat intelligence (CTI) helps organisations move from reacting to attacks to preventing them. By studying patterns in past breaches and monitoring hacker chatter, analysts can anticipate which industries or vulnerabilities might be targeted next. For example, if threat actors start discussing exploits in popular remote work tools, CTI teams can alert companies to patch those systems before an attack happens. This proactive approach saves time, money, and trust.
One might think online scams just appear out of thin air, but in reality, many of them start brewing in the darkest corners of the internet. On hidden websites and forums known collectively as “The Dark Web”, hackers and cybercriminals trade stolen data, sell scam templates, and even share tips on how to trick people more effectively. Cyberthreat intelligence (CTI) experts spend time monitoring these spaces to spot threats before they reach email inboxes or social media feeds.
For years, phishing emails were a very popular and effective tool for cybercriminals. They contained messages pretending to be from the recipient’s bank or a familiar company, designed to steal the victim’s login details. While phishing is still common, social engineering has evolved far beyond those emails. Contemporary scammers are using more sophisticated techniques, blending psychology with technology to manipulate people into giving up information, money, or access.
One of the biggest shifts is the rise of deepfakes, that is highly realistic fake videos, audio clips, or images generated by artificial intelligence. Cybercriminals now use AI-powered voice cloning to impersonate CEOs in phone calls, tricking employees into transferring funds. Others create fake video messages that look like they came from trusted colleagues or even family members. These scams prey on trust, making it harder for people to tell what’s real and what’s fake.
The main approach for detection and prevention of malware is based upon the concept of file signatures. More specifically, the anti-virus (AV) solutions are scanning the system’s storage devices and hash files at process/creation time. They then compare each of these hashes with their respective curated database which contains signatures of known malware samples. If there is a match then the file is flagged as malicious and subsequent actions take place to contain it. But what could happen if there was some kind of malware that did not rely on a file to accomplish its mission?
Cyberattacks often seem to come out of nowhere, but behind the scenes, teams of cybersecurity experts are constantly scanning for warning signs. Through a process known as threat forecasting, analysts look at patterns in data, emerging technologies, hacker conversations, and even geopolitical shifts to predict what types of cyberattacks might happen next. It’s not magic, it’s cyberthreat intelligence.
Much like weather forecasting, predicting cyber threats relies on spotting trends early. If hackers begin experimenting with new tactics or tools, those clues often surface first in obscure corners of the internet, like dark web forums or malware code repositories. Cybersecurity analysts collect and analyse this data to identify new techniques before they become widespread, giving companies and users a head start in defending themselves.
A Grant Agreement for the Security Operations Center (SOC) for the enhancement of cyber security in Greece.
A Grant Agreement has been signed between the ministry of digital governance and the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) who will fund the development and operation of the “SOC–Security Operations Center”.
The Grant Agreement is in the frame of the funding programme “DEP” and the budget of the project reaches 9.7 million euros, out of which 50% is a European funding and the other 50% will be covered by national resources.
The Act on the Protection of Infrastructure Critical to Society and on the Improvement of Resilience took effect on 1 July 2025 in Finland. The new legislation imposes requirements on all entities providing services critical to society according to an EU directive. The legislation aims to reinforce national security and societal resilience amid the evolving security threat landscape in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Finnish Ministry of the Interior will cooperate with other ministries to identify essential entities in Finland and at the same time renew the national security assessment according to the new legislation. The industried deemed essential include: infrastructure, health, drinking water, wastewater management, digital infrastructure, public administration, space, and the food industry including processing and distribution.
While many things in Cybersecurity may seem self-evident (need for good passwords, increased vigilance when handling emails, etc.), the site https:// Theconversation.com/ featured an interesting article on unintended effects of certain types of communication. In particular, it underscored the need to understand not just the technical needs of your audience but also the socio-economic aspects of the audience.
When conducting cybersecurity campaigns, we find that efforts at communication sometimes backfire and cause the opposite of the desired effect. Several consequences can arise:
Roger A. Grimes (KnowBe4’s Data-Driven Defense Evangelist) wrote an excellent Comprehensive Anti-Phishing Guide to help IT personnel combat increasing threats from phishing.
Among the important points Roger Grimes made were:
Training: We have to accept that there will always be to some degree phishing and social engineering activity that will bypass even the best or our defenses. Consequently, it is important to train employees how to recognize phishing and social engineering activity and how to manage them. Social engineering and phishing have long been thought to be the principal cause for many malicious data breaches. Fostering good security awareness training is indispensable to building a human firewall.
