“A person or bot cannot gain unauthorized access to a system if security is properly implemented and accurately enforced,” says Guillermo Vargas, CEO of IT consulting company WeCcode.

Cybercrime is booming. Hackers use advanced malware to hold companies’ systems hostage, often without regard for human life. Killware goes beyond ransomware — it’s software that can harm or even kill people. The most common form today is lethal malware. Alarmingly, weaponized operational technology (OT) environments capable of causing real-world harm are three years ahead of predicted timelines.

A real-world example is the 2021 Conti ransomware attack on Ireland’s Health Service Executive, which cost around $600 million to recover. While the loss of life wasn’t confirmed in this case, ransomware has been linked to alleged fatalities in Alabama and Germany. Regardless of the outcome, malware targeting critical systems remains a severe threat. The good news? A well-designed cybersecurity stack can prevent or minimize these risks.

Building an effective cybersecurity stack requires careful planning and precise execution. LastPass, for example, used multiple layers of encryption to protect customer data from the Heartbleed bug, which compromised 66% of real-world websites between 2012 and 2014. This layered approach hardened their systems and prevented a major breach.

Any place where company data lives or travels — websites, health networks, financial systems, IoT devices, and more — must be secured. The attack surface is growing rapidly, with over 25 billion internet-connected devices today and an estimated 40 billion by 2025. Hackers target both the client side (routers, laptops, phones, IoT devices) and the server/host side (firewalls, servers, APIs).

Attacks are increasing for three main reasons:

1. More devices exist to be hacked.
2. These devices handle more sensitive tasks, such as banking and cryptocurrency.
3. The value of stolen data is higher than ever, with cybercrime projected to cost $10.5 trillion by 2025.

Organizations can protect against killware, ransomware, and spyware by securing every component of their systems. An effective cybersecurity stack combines software, hardware, people, processes, and policies into a unified defensive and offensive security strategy.

Guillermo Vargas is CEO of WeCcode, a cyber security consulting company based in Plantation, Fla.