Guarding the Grid: Comcast Business Mobilizes to Tackle Rising Cybercrime

Cyberattacks are everywhere. No matter what walk of life, chances are you or your business have been a target at some point.  

In fact, in 2025 alone, there were more than 34 billion recorded events, according to a new study published by Comcast Business. 

As cyberattacks grow in volume, velocity, and sophistication, the report — now in its third year of publication — delivers a clear message: businesses of all sizes must evolve their cybersecurity strategies to stay ahead of increasingly stealthy and AI-powered adversaries. 

“Cybersecurity is no longer just a technology issue – it’s a business imperative,” said Noopur Davis, Chief Information Security and Product Privacy Officer for Comcast. “Our 2025 Threat Report underscores the urgency for businesses to rethink risk, invest in multi-layered, adaptive defenses, and put people at the center of their security strategy.” 

Midwest Region Steps up to Help Businesses, Non-profits Spot Risks 

With threats continually on the rise, Comcast’s Midwest Region is stepping up its efforts to ensure the business community and non-profit partners are informed and protected when it comes to consuming information and handling data. 

“Most people don’t realize this, but cybercrime is the third largest economy in the world,” said Rob Patterson, Vice President, Comcast Business, Midwest Region. “It’s about $10 trillion a year, which is roughly double the size of the GDP of Germany and makes it the fastest growing economy in the world.” 

Patterson was interviewed on the subject as part of Roshini Rajkumar’s The Crisis Files podcast recorded live at the Mall of America.  

“By 2027, we expect those numbers to be upwards of $15 trillion, and on average, the typical organization is going to have about 2,000 threats every single week and that’s only growing with the use of AI,” said Patterson.  

As cyberattacks become more robust, Comcast Midwest Region employees like Director of Sales Engineering Chris Hanna have proactively held meetings with non-profit partners to inform them of the latest risks. 

Hanna’s presentation emphasized that while attacks against big companies make news, small businesses are not immune. In fact, a recent study by Mastercard claims 46% of small businesses have experienced one – and they appear in many forms, including business disruption, legal fees, data loss, reputation damage, or even identity theft. 

The Frequency and Complexity of Attacks 

When Patterson talks to CIOs, the largest concern they share is worries about employees clicking on malicious email links.  

Others can strike via text message. These style attacks have become so sophisticated that attackers attempt to build relationships through their messaging to elicit valuable information.  

“Attacks can come from everywhere,” said Patterson. “With AI, it doesn’t require someone to sit in front of their computer and build a program or software that’s going to constantly launch attacks. They can have a bot just sit there 24/7 phishing for a victim. All it takes is one malicious link.” 

Patterson says the best advice is don’t engage and report any suspicious text messages or emails as spam. He drew an analogy to setting up an alarm system in your home and the phrase, “deter, detect, defend.”  

“When you put in an alarm system, you might put signs or a fence up in your yard. That’s deter. Then you put up cameras to try to detect anyone that’s on your property. And then that alarm system is to defend. Security is the same way – you can’t just deter, you can’t just detect, and you can’t just defend. It has to be all encompassing,” he said.   

The Good Side of AI 

While AI is causing a rampant rise in attacks, it is also being used to strengthen security. That’s where Comcast Business’ solutions come in.  

“We deploy artificial intelligence across our platform, and it never takes a vacation, never takes a bathroom break. It doesn’t lack expertise, it’s always going, and it actually learns behavior,” said Patterson. 

“When you first deploy it across the network, it’s using machine learning to figure out what’s normal behavior,” said Patterson. “When it detects something abnormal, it will flag it and say, ‘here’s an issue, cybersecurity team take a look at it or if you want, I can automatically mitigate it’.” 

Patterson added that despite the exciting, innovative technologies being deployed, they aren’t yet perfect, and human decision-making will continue to remain a crucial element to proper cyber defense.  

To learn more, visit here or watch the full podcast episode “Digital Defense” below.