While Mark Twain might be long gone, the rumors of ransomware’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Threat actor interest in backdoor deployment surged in 2022, but reports of ransomware’s demise are premature, IBM Security X-Force found in its 2023 Threat Intelligence Index.

According to the report, the number one “action on objective” taken by attackers in 2022 was deploying backdoors in target systems (21%). That’s in part because the perpetrators in question may have intended to wait to resell access to those backdoors to other cybercriminals on dark-net markets. X-Force researchers wrote that auction prices for these backdoors tend to start at between $5,000 and $10,000, although the final sales price may be lower.

Backdoors outpaced ransomware, which was the top action on objective in 17% of cases. However, X-Force concluded that many of those backdoors were incidents where successful intervention by security prevented the attacker from carrying out “additional plans when the backdoor was operationalized.” Around two-thirds of those cases had indicators of intent to deploy ransomware, according to the report.

Defenders “are getting faster at identifying and stopping those threat actors at those initial stages,” John Hendley, head of strategy at X-Force, told IT Brew. “Attackers have always followed the money. And right now, backdoors are actually a pretty profitable commodity for cyber criminals.”

Read more here.—TM

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The future of the tech industry is already here for Black professionals—but workers will need help from mentors in the space to keep the momentum going.

The tech industry is dominated by white and Asian professionals—according to a February report from McKinsey, Black workers make up just 8% of tech workers and only 3% of executives. And while the sector’s job growth is projected at 14% by 2032, Black talent in the industry is only expected to increase by 8%.

That has made Black leaders in the space invaluable to their peers. And it’s part of the raison d’être for Per Scholas, a tech education nationwide nonprofit organization that aims to help people get access to careers in IT.

On February 27, Per Scholas hosted a roundtable discussion of Black tech leaders to talk about the industry. During the conversation, hosted by Per Scholas Senior Director Omoanatse McCarther, Barclays Director of Cyber, Technology, Data, and Change Risk Oche Idoko, Per Scholas Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer Damien Howard, and EY Senior Leader Athenia Figgs all gave their thoughts on the state of diversity in the industry today and how to navigate it.

Figgs, whose work for EY involves tech consulting, said that the companies she talks to tend to solve problems more easily when their team is dynamic. Greater efficiency leads to better outcomes.

“Because the team is diverse, that shows through as a more stable, more market[-oriented] perspective in the solution,” Figgs said. “There have been examples where because we have a diverse team, people come up with interesting solutions.”

Keep reading here.—EH

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A new poll of business leaders claims there is already widespread adoption of OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI in the private sector—and some have already replaced human workers using the technology, despite a warning from OpenAI’s CEO suggesting that might not be the brightest idea.

Career site Resume Builder posted the results of a February 2023 poll of 1,000 US business leaders, where 49% of respondents said their company is already using ChatGPT in some capacity, while an additional 30% plan to. Of those who said ChatGPT was already implemented, 48% said they have already replaced workers and 25% claimed to have already saved over $75,000.

Here’s what Resume Builder found ChatGPT is already being used for, according to the respondents:

• Writing code (66%)
• Copywriting/content creation (58%)
• Customer support (57%)
• Creating summaries of meetings/documents (52%)

Additionally, strong majorities of respondents who said their companies use ChatGPT said it’s in use throughout the hiring process for writing job descriptions (77%), drafting interview questions (66%), and responding to applicants (65%). (Resume Builder has previously posted a survey suggesting use of generative AI to build résumés is now becoming common.)

Given that, despite the hype around its rollout, OpenAI expects just $200 million in revenue in 2023 and only launched a paid subscription plan on February 1—and the poll was conducted online using a convenience-sampling method—these numbers should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt.

Keep reading here.—TM

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Today’s top IT reads.

Stat: 38%. That’s the proportion of respondents to a new Pew Research Poll who say they’re more concerned than excited about AI. (PCMag)

Quote: “This will be tough and there’s no way around that.”—Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the company’s plans, announced Tuesday, to lay off another 10,000 workers (TechCrunch)

Read: Tech layoffs and H-1B visas are leading some workers to scramble for work to stay in the country. (Rest of World)

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