Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity, has revealed that it blocked more than 161 billion threats globally in 2023, marking a significant 10% rise in threat detections when compared with the previous year’s figures.

The company issued a warning to local businesses, highlighting that growing adoption of AI tools and solutions is increasingly opening new avenues of attack.

Over the past year, organisations across South Africa have been exploring how generative AI can be used to unlock business value. However, bad actors are constantly on the lookout for low-effort, high-return modes of attack, and generative AI provides some key opportunities.

Its speed and scalability are enhancing social engineering and fraud while making it faster and easier for cybercriminals to mine large datasets for actionable information. At the same time, AI-powered apps can be vulnerable to hijacking and misuse.

These ongoing trends serve as a compelling reminder that enterprises must maintain a proactive approach in managing risks across the entire attack surface in today’s dynamic cybersecurity landscape. In South Africa, Trend Micro effectively blocked more than 225 million threats in 2023. This figure encompasses the prevention of over 159 million email threats and over 8 million malicious URL victim attacks. Additionally, Trend Micro identified and stopped around 35 million malware attacks, indicating that cybercriminals are doubling down on their criminal activities within the country.  

"Building a reputation can take decades, but a single cyber incident can collapse it in minutes,” said Assad Arabi, Managing Director, Africa and Venture Markets, Trend Micro.

“This underscores the critical need for organisations to prioritise strong cybersecurity measures to safeguard their operations and combat modern threats effectively – particularly as we navigate this era of AI in which new tools are powering more sophisticated phishing attempts at scale. By staying proactive and vigilant, organisations can mitigate risks and maintain their reputation in an ever-evolving digital landscape.”

Over the past few months, Trend has launched several new solutions designed to protect every person accessing public or private generative AI services across their organisations. The new elements in Trend Vision One™ – Zero Trust Secure Access (ZTSA) continue Trend's leadership as the first vendor to focus on securing AI services as well as the people using them across the enterprise.

According to ESG, organisations that implement Trend Vision One experience significant financial benefits. On average, these businesses save $2.43 million due to reduced customer churn. They also achieve a 65% reduction in dwell time, leading to further efficiencies and an additional $1.3 million in cost savings from reduced risk exposure. 

Furthermore, integrating Extended Detection and Response (XDR) into existing technologies boosts security measures considerably. This integration leads to a 97% increase in security posture, a 95% reduction in detection and investigation times, and a 92% improvement in Security Operations Centre (SOC) team collaboration.

In addition to the newly launched capabilities in Trend Vision One and its first consumer security solutions tailored for AI PCs, the company has also demoed a new data centre solution, using NVIDIA technology, for businesses harnessing the power of AI in their on-prem data centres. The integration of NVIDIA NIM with Trend Vision One Sovereign and Private Cloud provides the power needed for the requisite infrastructural change as companies worldwide adopt generative AI. 

What’s more, as a part of its continued efforts to raise awareness around emerging AI threats, Trend Micro hosted the Risk to Resilience (R2R) World Tour in Johannesburg on June 13th. This strategic event not only reaffirms the company’s commitment to aligning with South Africa’s cyber defence efforts but also signifies its dedication to advancing cybersecurity excellence in the country.