The need for medical rehabilitation in Switzerland is increasing sharply, as the growing population is ageing steadily and the proportion of chronically ill patients is rising. In August 2023, the Zurich rehabilitation centers and the Valens clinics decide to join forces. The merger creates the largest full-service provider for medical rehabilitation in Switzerland with 12 inpatient and outpatient clinics and over 2,200 employees. Around 10,000 patients a year will receive individually tailored and holistic rehabilitation in the new clinic group. As an excellent organization, the clinic group was awarded the ESPRIX prize on 23 April 2024 in recognition of its quality management in accordance with the EFQM model.

Positioning, naming and brand portfolio strategy of the new clinic group

As part of the multi-year integration process, one of the tasks is to define the brand strategy for the new clinic group. Scholtysik wins the mandate in a multi-stage evaluation process. The agency impressed those responsible with its structured approach and many years of experience in strategic branding. Scholtysik will first analyze the positioning of the new clinic group as well as the individual locations and offerings. Based on this, the future brand portfolio, the naming and the new overall brand identity will be developed together with the client.

Source: www.scholtysik.ch

Green today announces the start of construction of the fourth data center on the Metro Campus Zurich West. The company's headquarters will have 5,526 m² of new data center space for secure and energy-efficient high-performance computing. This corresponds to 12 megawatts of power for customer systems. The Zurich West 4 data center will be equipped with a waste heat extraction system to supply the region with climate-neutral heating.

Demand accelerates start of construction

The demand for modern data centers is high. New technologies such as artificial intelligence and the digitalization push across all industries require more computing power and generate more data volume. At the same time, the outsourcing of company-owned data centers is increasing - many companies are dismantling their own data centers because they no longer offer sufficient capacity, flexibility and energy efficiency. "We are at the beginning of another wave of investment," explains Roger Süess, CEO of Green, adding: "With our investment program, we are doubling our data center capacities again over the next two to three years. Modern and efficient data centers are an important prerequisite for companies to implement digitalization in a sustainable and future-proof way."

Heat network-supported data centers

Green is gearing its data center architecture towards high energy efficiency and future requirements for high-performance computing. Datacenter Zurich West 4 will be equipped with a waste heat extraction system. The waste heat from the customer systems will flow into the new Naturenergie Eigenamt heating network operated by IBB Energie AG. Green also uses natural cooling (freecooling) from the ambient air for cooling, thereby minimizing energy consumption. The room design, systems and controls comply with Green's latest energy-saving reference architecture. Photovoltaic systems also complement the concept.

Key data Datacenter Zurich West 4

• High-performance data center of the latest generation
• Commissioning: 2026
• 5'526 m² Data center space
• Around 2'000 m² Office space
• Climate-neutral heating for the region
• 100% renewable energy in data center operation

Switzerland is an established business and science location that will focus even more strongly on digital innovation in the future in order to maintain its competitiveness. Switzerland is also attractive as a data location within Europe. Medium-term forecasts assume that demand for data center capacity will remain high. Green is therefore already evaluating new locations for the next phase of its expansion.

Source: www.green.ch

Digital Realty's two data centers ZUR1 and ZUR2 in Glattbrugg underwent an intensive and demanding certification process by the SDEA (Swiss Datacenter Efficiency Association), in which they have now been recognized for their outstanding energy efficiency and low carbon footprint.

The ZUR1 data center, which can already look back on 24 years of operation, was awarded the "Silver+" label - a recognition of over two decades of excellence, innovation and continuous improvement of the infrastructure. ZUR2, which was commissioned in 2020, received the prestigious "Gold+" label. It represents a milestone in the sustainability of this industry: it is also the first "Gold+" certification awarded by the SDEA to date, an indicator of the outstanding efficiency and sustainability of the infrastructure evaluated in the certification process.

Yves Zischek, Managing Director of Digital Realty Switzerland, said proudly: "We are delighted that our ecological and sustainable approach has been recognized and certified by the SDEA. My special thanks go to our dedicated team in Switzerland, who made this outstanding achievement possible."

This certification is the result of continuous innovation by the local team in Glattbrugg. Digital Realty's clients also benefit from this focus on energy efficiency. Denis Marusic, Director Operations at Digital Realty Switzerland, emphasized: "This certification offers our clients the opportunity to strengthen their own sustainability goals by integrating their IT infrastructure with our certified data center platform. In this way, they achieve a fully certified and sustainable IT environment that reflects our shared commitment to energy efficiency and environmental responsibility."

Source: ch.digitalrealty.com

Corporate risk management is similar to steering a ship. There are many variables to consider, which can also vary from ship to ship. IT and security teams may not have to worry about nautical challenges, but like captains, they must assess and manage risks in a way that is appropriate for their organization. Just as a ship should not slow down because of a problem, organizations cannot afford to slow down business operations because of low-risk threats.

Companies and their security experts therefore need a framework that they can use as a guide for the best possible risk minimization - for example, the 4-T approach.

Four action points for coordinated risk management

Effective cyber risk management in the current threat landscape requires a strategic and targeted approach. The four Ts are a simple, effective framework that any organization can use to achieve this goal:

• Tolerance rate: Risk tolerance for insignificant threats to the company.
• Terminate: Elimination of risks that can be completely eliminated.
• Treat: The processing of risks in order to reduce them to an acceptable level.
• Transfer: Transferring risks to third parties

Every organization has its own individual risk appetite. By identifying and analyzing the potential impact and likelihood of cyber risks, companies can develop a tailored strategy that matches their individual risk tolerance and resource availability.

Application of the 4-T approach to cyber risk management

In order to apply the 4-T model, the potential cyber risks for the company must be identified. This includes the potential threats to which the company is exposed, the individual vulnerability to these threats and the likely impact that a successful attack could have on the company. The risk assessment of the supply chain should not be omitted here. The risks can then be assigned to the 4 Ts and managed accordingly.

Using the 4-T model simplifies the planning and implementation of a comprehensive cyber risk strategy. However, the threat landscape is constantly changing and the company's risk appetite can also change significantly. This requires a regular review and analysis results and, if necessary, a reallocation in 4-T risk management. Just as a ship's captain must constantly adapt to changing sea conditions and disruptions, companies must remain flexible and adapt to the changing cyber security landscape.

Source: www.sophos.com     

In the first half of 2024, a key objective of cybercriminals remains to develop fast, inconspicuous yet sophisticated threats and campaigns. In the first half of the year, the Japanese cybersecurity specialist observed how cybercriminals targeted misconfigured and unprotected assets in order to secretly penetrate systems and steal sensitive data. Overall, access to vulnerable cloud applications dominated the list of risk events in the first half of 2024. In many cases, a lack of endpoint protection on unmanaged devices also exposed companies to unnecessary risks.

Threat situation remains complex despite law enforcement successes

The ransomware family with the most file detections in the first half of 2024 was LockBit, although the detection figures fell massively as a result of the "Operation Cronos" police operation. Financial institutions were the most affected by ransomware attacks, closely followed by companies in the technology sector.

Despite the successful law enforcement measures in the first half of 2024, the threat situation remains complex:

• LockBit: Despite considerable disruption and sanctions, LockBit is trying to maintain its position. Trend Micro analyzed a new version, LockBit-NG-Dev, which is written in .NET and could be platform-independent.

• Dropper malware networksEven after the takedown of botnets like IcedID and Trickbot, ransomware groups continue to find vulnerabilities, abuse remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools, bring-your-own-vulnerable-driver (BYOVD) attacks, and use custom shell scripts.

• New tools and tactics: Both state-sponsored actors and cybercriminals use compromised routers as an anonymization layer. While groups like Sandworm use their own proxy botnets, others like APT29 use commercial proxy networks. The APT group Earth Lusca used the tense relations between China and Taiwan as social engineering bait to infect targeted victims in one campaign investigated.

Players continue to push the limits of AI

Trend Micro observed that threat actors are hiding malware in legitimate AI software, running criminal LLMs (Large Language Models) and even selling jailbreak-as-a-service offerings. The latter allow cybercriminals to trick generative AI bots into answering questions that violate their own policies - especially to develop malware and social engineering lures. Deepfake offerings have also been refined by actors to carry out virtual hijackings, commit targeted fraud in the form of BEC (business email compromise) and bypass KYC (know-your-customer) controls. For the latter, malware has also been developed that intercepts biometric data.

"Cybersecurity has evolved in recent years to cope with increasingly complex and targeted attacks," explains Udo Schneider, Governance, Risk & Compliance Lead Europe at Trend Micro. "In the coming years, it will become essential for the security industry to be proactive. Business leaders and security teams must manage the ever-changing threats and risks with a resilience-oriented, data-driven approach and a comprehensive (cyber) risk management strategy."

Source: www.trendmicro.com

Cloud-based working is changing and strengthening all processes in companies. Regardless of how stable on-premise supply chain management is, cloud-based supply chain planning offers many advantages. These include basic scalability and better connectivity of supply chain networks. For mature supply chains, there is also the option of an ecosystem with integrated planning and execution processes. All of this is handled via a single platform with a common data structure. 

But what are the requirements for an appropriate solution? Jürgen Hindler, Senior Manager Sales Development & Strategy SCM at Oracle, explains which functions should definitely be included. 

Segmentation as a starting point for orchestration 

An optimal cloud solution for supply chain planning divides the supply chain into different segments. This process is based on various parameters, such as geographical regions and the matching needs of different customers. Ideally, employees can also take factors such as agility and resilience into account when subdividing each segment. This all adds great value to organizational processes. Companies can then plan precisely according to segment, better fulfill specific requirements and take dependencies into account. As a result, the quality, robustness and speed of the entire supply chain increase. 

Focus on cooperation with suppliers 

Companies need a cloud solution that enables integrated planning - planning that takes into account and coordinates all aspects of demand, supply and inventory. Such coordination requires close cooperation with suppliers and the exchange of all relevant information. It is therefore important to be able to integrate partners and other systems in the supply chain into the solution. The more functions are available for collaboration, the better the planning of business processes will be. There may not be an immediate need for some functions, but if this changes, companies will be prepared. 

Always find a successful solution 

The decision support provided by a cloud solution also plays a major role. The right technology offers ready-made analyses, guided problem solutions and intelligent recommendations. This helps employees to make decisions more easily and plan efficiently. They can quickly find the optimal solution for every situation. 

Key criterion speed 

Delivery delays repeatedly cause major problems for companies. An innovative cloud solution for supply chain planning enables employees to identify problems at an early stage and resolve them quickly. With the right supply chain management, they gain a comprehensive overview of their own supply chain and see changes in real time. There should also be functions to identify possible alternatives in the event of deviations from the plan and to analyze the likely impact on the business. On this basis, companies can always react flexibly to new developments and inform all stakeholders directly. 

Smart logistics: automated, efficient and scalable 

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) promises even greater success in supply chain planning. It automates decisions based on business success and ensures this. A corresponding cloud solution not only takes measures, but also executes them itself. This increases efficiency and gives employees more time for strategic tasks. Scaling is also much easier in the future. 

Achieving all goals in the long term 

"Companies continue to face major challenges in logistics. With the right cloud solution for supply chain planning, they can master all tasks and gain an enormous competitive advantage over the competition," says Jürgen Hindler. "The ideal solution supports strategic as well as tactical and operational planning. It enables employees to monitor processes in real time and adapt plans. Together, they create the conditions for a successful digital transformation of the supply chain." 

Source: www.oracle.com

Lutz-Jesco Suisse SA specializes in the manufacture of universal electric motors with an output of up to 1.5 kW as well as motor components such as rotors and stators. In future, the company's product portfolio will also include pumps, dosing systems and water treatment systems suitable for sewage treatment plants, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, the pulp and paper industry and the agricultural sector.

"Switzerland is not only an important market for us, but also a hub for innovation and quality. By expanding the fields of activity of Lutz-Jesco Suisse SA, we are strengthening our presence in Switzerland and taking another important step in our international growth strategy," says Heinz Lutz, Managing Director of Lutz Holding GmbH, a global group of companies that also includes Lutz Pumpen GmbH from Wertheim and Lutz-Jesco GmbH from Wedemark. "Couvet not only offers us a strategically favorable location, but also access to a market that is known for its high standards of technology and reliability."

Greater customer proximity and shorter response timesexpand

Lutz-Jesco Suisse SA fulfills the wishes of Swiss customers for increased proximity and shorter response times. "For most customers today, outstanding technology is the natural basis of a good supplier-customer relationship," explains Lutz. Customer proximity and service are therefore the key factors for continued success. "Thanks to our presence in Couvet, we can offer customers in Switzerland even faster and more direct support, which gives us a decisive competitive advantage."

Modern industry in a region steeped in history

Couvet is a village in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, located in the Val-de-Travers in the canton of Neuchâtel. The small community is known for its historical importance in the watchmaking industry. Lutz explains: "With the presence of Lutz-Jesco Suisse SA in Couvet, we are showing that modern industries are also active in this traditional region."

Pioneer in fluid management since 1954

Founded in 1954, the internationally active family business Lutz stands for professional fluid management. Today, the Lutz group of companies includes efficient, medium-sized companies with locations in Germany and abroad, which operate in the broad field of pump technology, water treatment and disinfection. The Lutz Group has 13 subsidiaries and is represented by agencies in over 80 countries.

Source: www.lutz-pumpen.de 

In mid-May 2024, Helvetia announced that Group Risk Management would become part of the Group Executive Management as a new division. The leadership of this new division has now been filled by Bernhard Kaufmann. He will join Helvetia at the beginning of November as Group Chief Risk Officer and member of the Group Executive Management. Bernhard Kaufmann has many years of management experience in risk management in an international environment. He has been Chief Risk Officer and a member of the Group Executive Management of the Dutch NN Group since 2020. Prior to that, he held various roles at Munich Re Group, most recently as Group Chief Risk Officer. Bernhard Kaufmann is a German citizen and holds a doctorate in theoretical physics from the Technical University of Munich.

"With Bernhard Kaufmann, Helvetia is gaining a proven expert in risk management and a leader with broad international experience. I am delighted that he is strengthening our team", explains Fabian Rupprecht, Group CEO of Helvetia. He adds: "By integrating Risk Management as an independent part of the Group Executive Management, we are further improving our governance and ensuring that Helvetia remains a reliable partner for customers, employees and investors even in times of constant change." The new Group Risk Management unit assesses all risks in particular, including strategic, financial and operational risks as well as risks associated with major projects of the Group and the market units, in order to mitigate these together with the units concerned. This division also manages all ESG activities and bundles key control tasks at Group Executive Management level.

With the appointment of Bernhard Kaufmann as Group Chief Risk Officer, the realigned Group Executive Management is now complete. "The adjusted Group structure and the new Group Executive Management members strengthen Helvetia's international dimension. At the same time, we are continuing to develop in terms of diversity in various respects," says Fabian Rupprecht.

Source: www.helvetia.ch

At the same time, employees are not yet ready to entrust everything to AI. The study shows that they prefer humans to carry out tasks such as familiarization, training and data security. However, this could change quickly - the data suggests that targeted investment in knowledge and education will boost confidence in an autonomous AI future.

Switzerland is more open to AI compared to other countries

In Germany, 28% of respondents stated that they use AI without hesitation. The study describes this result as significantly different to its northern neighbor Germany (20%). However, the UK (17%) and Ireland (15%) also see more hurdles in the use of AI. Respondents in India have the greatest confidence in AI, with a value of 40%. Surprisingly, almost the same number (24%) in Switzerland are not at all inclined to use AI in the workplace, while 25% are not willing to use Generative AI.

Major differences between the sectors

A deeper look into the industries also shows differences: people in the communications industry are most inclined to use Chat GPT, Gemini and co. Here it is 69% who already use or would use these tools without hesitation. One explanation for this is the nature of the industry-specific tasks that can be handed over to AI. In general, 19% of employees in Switzerland would completely hand over texts for internal communication to AI.

On the other hand, there is the research sector (life sciences and biotechnology), around three quarters of respondents (72%) from this sector are not prepared to use these tools at all.
 
In the public sector, there is again a fundamental willingness, although 56% of respondents have reservations. The main reasons for this are the lack of expertise and the absence of guidelines on how employers should handle generative artificial intelligence. 39% of respondents in this sector are completely averse to the use of AI tools and do not intend to use them for their personal tasks in the future (78%).

Millennials and Gen X leading the way in understanding AI

Across all generations, millennials and Gen X are those with the greatest expertise in the technical implementation and use of AI in everyday working life. Gen Z is not among the generations that know the most about artificial intelligence and use it the most. Gen Z appears to be particularly critical of AI assistants, as 82% of respondents from this generation do not use assistants such as IBM Watson or Microsoft Copilot. Millennials take a very different view, with 39% experimenting with or having already fully integrated such AI assistants into their everyday working lives.

"The results of the study reflect our customer experience: Artificial intelligence is already being used in Swiss companies for many tasks, but in most cases this is not (yet) happening without human intervention," says Gregory Leproux, Senior Director, Solution Engineering at Salesforce Switzerland. "To realize the full potential of trustworthy AI, there is a need for more powerful control mechanisms and policies for responsible generative AI that enable employees to review the output of AI applications at the system level rather than prompt by prompt. When AI systems are thoughtfully designed, we can combine the best of human and machine intelligence for this incredible new era."

Salesforce, in partnership with YouGov, conducted a double-anonymous survey from March 20 to April 3, 2024. Almost 6,000 full-time employees participated in the survey, representing companies of various sizes and industries in nine countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, France, Germany, India, Singapore and Switzerland (265 people). The survey was conducted online.

Source: www.salesforce.com

In the highly competitive job market, companies need to increase their attractiveness in order to retain employees and find new specialists. The obligatory fruit basket hardly attracts anyone from behind the stove. New, innovative ways of rewarding that reach every employee personally are therefore in demand. Gifts in kind and other benefits are very popular, as they are often more cost-effective than a direct salary increase.

Gift cards and vouchers are particularly flexible. There is a wide range on offer and the market for providers of non-cash benefits is flourishing. At the same time, however, the number of dubious players is also increasing. They are targeting physical and digital cards in equal measure. 

Professional protection for gift cards

Trust is the most important element of a gift card - after all, everyone involved must be able to rely on the cards issued to function securely. In addition to the monetary loss, fraud also results in a loss of trust.

According to a BHN survey, 73 percent of consumers have heard of these scenarios, and as many as 34 percent have been victims of fraudsters themselves. Certain patterns emerge when these cards are used. In some cases, the data is provided with features that do not correspond to legitimate use. 

In order to better recognize these fraudulent patterns, BHN has put together a team of data scientists and invested in machine learning algorithms. In the backend of the global provider network, risk management tools check every transaction for possible fraud, and unusual activity is analyzed immediately. Scientists and risk management tools then jointly decide whether a transaction could be fraudulent.

Packaging as a gateway 

Another measure is the development of forgery-proof packaging on which important card information is stored. The BSI also recently warned that the barcodes on gift cards are increasingly being manipulated. The money paid in then does not end up in the digital gift account, but in the money store of fraudsters. The card cannot be redeemed, which causes lasting damage to the reputation of the gift giver.

The most well-known type of gift card fraud is telephone fraud. Around 25 percent of reported incidents are attributable to this scam. This involves gift card holders being asked over the phone to transfer a fee before redeeming the card. Other fraudsters ask for the sensitive card details on the receiver for an alleged activation and transfer the credit to their own account. 

Through training and special educational measures, retailers and consumers can be made aware of possible fraud patterns. Customer support is an important criterion for any type of fraud. A well-trained service team provides initial assistance, informs those affected about possible measures and answers questions. However, you can also take action yourself and share the scams of gift card fraudsters with others. It is a good idea to post experiences on social media channels to draw attention to manipulation. In companies, this information can also be disseminated via employee newsletters or internal notifications. 

Companies that opt for a bonus program based on gift or prepaid cards should check the integrity of their incentive partners. The larger the market, the more attractive it becomes for fraudulent players. Cooperation with an experienced external partner helps to distinguish between serious and dubious offers. Specialists also provide support from the outset in tailoring an employee incentive program to the individual needs of the company and its employees. This creates a flexible and attractive portfolio that retains existing staff and attracts new specialists.

About the author: Leif-Eric Marx, Managing Director DACH & CEE at BHN.

Source: www.blackhawknetwork.com

The fact is that internal threats from employees, espionage or simple misconduct still exist and that companies should not ignore these alongside cyber risks. The "Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) 2023", for example, found that as many as 19 percent of security breaches can be attributed to internal actors. The BSI also considers internal risks to be an important source of danger and advises careful analysis in order to prevent business processes from failing as far as possible.

Danger from within our own ranks

Important, business-critical data can very easily be intentionally or accidentally compromised or destroyed, as one of the most recent examples at a company that provides information and communication technology shows. In June 2024, a case came to light in which a disappointed employee wanted to take revenge on his former employer after being made redundant. Out of frustration, the employee had deleted 180 virtual servers in his ex-employer's test system, causing damage of over 620,000 euros; the former employee still had admin access to the systems, even after he had been dismissed. This example shows how fragile and vulnerable IT systems are if companies do not take the necessary protective measures and strictly adhere to the principle of least privilege.

However, damage caused by internal actors does not necessarily have to be due to malicious motivation. Errors by administrators or users are also conceivable. Too many rights, one wrong click and it can happen that business-critical data and systems are irrevocably deleted.

After the disaster comes the recovery

Depending on the size of the company, the cost of such incidents may not be the biggest problem. It is much more important to restore data and systems quickly, preferably in the state they were in shortly before they were compromised or deleted. This is where a good and, above all, tried-and-tested backup and disaster recovery strategy can help. And data backup sets that cannot be manipulated or deleted help. For the example mentioned above, this would mean that the backups of the test systems are made as close as possible to the time of deletion and that they are stored on non-erasable and unalterable storage. Only then is it guaranteed that the data and test systems can be restored in their entirety and that the company loses little productive time or even months or years of test results.

In these cases, backup solutions are required that use orchestrated recovery to reduce recovery times and points (RTOs/RPOs) to minutes and validate the desired service level agreements (SLAs) with assured recovery. To achieve this, a unified platform for data protection, such as Arcserve UDP, is ideal. An integrated platform provides companies with a comprehensive solution that combines backup, disaster recovery and data management across the board. Such solutions are also able to efficiently prevent the effects of data compromise or even destruction - regardless of whether this is caused by an external cyberattack, internal actors or an operating error. The implementation and regular testing of the 3-2-1-1 rule for backups is crucial. This assumes a total of three copies of the backup data, whereby two backups should be stored on two different media carriers and one externally. The last 1 stands for the storage of a copy on an unalterable storage medium. Unchangeable backups are saved in a write-once, read-many format that cannot be changed or deleted - not even by hackers, internal actors or administrators. Companies that combine this rule with a suitable backup and disaster recovery solution can rely on a secure recovery of all data and systems in the event of an emergency.

Source: www.arcserve.com

Overconfidence in their own cyber security habits

Many people are overconfident about their cybersecurity practices - especially when it comes to password management. The survey shows that 85 percent of those surveyed internationally and even 91 percent of those surveyed in the DACH region believe that their passwords are secure. At the same time, however, more than half admit that they share their passwords with others. In addition, 64 percent worldwide and 70 percent of those surveyed in DACH are confident in their knowledge of cyber security, although 41 percent of respondents use their passwords multiple times and 24 percent write their passwords down. In DACH, slightly fewer (34%) use their passwords multiple times, while 27% write down their access data manually.

Popular password management practices

Risky password management practices underscore the disconnect between widespread confidence in one's cybersecurity and the actual state of cyber hygiene. Keeper's research shows that the following password management practices are the most common:

• Remembering passwords (26 percent internationally, 8 percent in DACH)
• Write down passwords (24 percent internationally, 27 percent in DACH)
• Saving passwords in a browser or a note app on the cell phone (19 percent internationally, 15 percent in DACH)

While many people believe that their passwords are secure, their behavior shows that there is a great need for advanced tools and comprehensive education. Using a password manager, creating strong and unique passwords for each account and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever it is available can significantly improve personal cybersecurity.

Widespread: Shared use of passwords

Despite the crackdown on streaming services, more than a third of international and DACH respondents (34%) admit to sharing passwords for streaming sites with others. The other most commonly shared passwords include:

• Shopping accounts (22 percent internationally and in DACH)
• Personal e-mails (20 percent internationally, 16 percent in DACH)
• Social media (16 percent internationally, 15 percent in DACH)
• Emails at work/school (16 percent internationally, 17 percent in DACH)
• Passwords/pins for bank accounts (15 percent internationally and in DACH)
• Productivity platforms for work (13 percent internationally, 11 percent in DACH)

Still a long way to go

The major challenges to improving global cyber hygiene highlight the need to educate on the risks of insecure password sharing and management and to utilize solutions to strengthen cyber resilience. Although industry experts and cybersecurity authorities recommend using a secure password manager to store, generate and securely share passwords, Keeper's study shows that only 12 percent of respondents worldwide do so. These tools are crucial for the secure management of online accounts and identities.

"The findings reveal a paradox in cybersecurity: people feel confident in their cybersecurity knowledge, yet are often the target of cyberattacks and fraud," said Darren Guccione, CEO and co-founder of Keeper Security. "This discrepancy underscores that knowledge alone is not enough to mitigate cyber risks. Using tools like password managers and following best practices are critical to reducing cyber risk."

The Keeper study highlights the challenges security professionals face when it comes to educating people to take timely action to protect themselves online. Empowering everyone through education and technology is critical to protecting sensitive data and defending against today's sophisticated cyberattacks and online scams. By being informed and using best practices, people can actively protect themselves against the most common cyber threats.

Source: www.keepersecurity.com