Over the course of this year, businesses and individuals alike have fully recognised the importance and significance of cybersecurity in modern day society. 2018 has been rife with numerous hacking attempts and data breaches that have increased in both regularity and intensity, and at times have crippled political and economic institutions as a result.
There is no doubt that we can expect many great and terrible things from cybersecurity in 2019. As the industry continues to grow, this is what we can anticipate in the following year.
Biometric information
Many organisations are opting to use biometric data to enhance their security protocols; however, with the rise of cyber-criminal activity and its complexity, the theft of such biometric information is likely thus magnifying the scope of data stolen as a result.
Fabio Assolini, the senior security researcher at cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, said: “As more biometric systems for user identification and authentication are being implemented by various financial institutions […], 2019 will see criminals exposing vulnerabilities in passcodes, touch ID sensors and facial recognition. While many financial organisations consider these emerging biometric-based solutions to improve security over current authentication methods, biometric data will increasingly be used to steal sensitive information.”
AI
Attacks using artificial intelligence (AI) machines are expected to increase in 2019, with such technology being used to hide new attack methods or intensify the impact of the hack.
A specialist at Mimecast, Brian Pinnock, has said however that it’s not all bad news, as the use of AI can also assist organisations with prevention and detection more than traditional security protocols. “Organisations will realise the importance of threat intelligence and will focus on the need for an ‘intelligence function’ to identify threats,” he commented.
Increased complexity
Malware, ransomware and phishing scams were almost commonplace in 2018, and Pinnock believes more of the same is to be expected in 2019. A result of more sophisticated attack methods and new technologies, digital data criminal activity is anticipated to be more and more difficult to detect, especially due to the sheer number of breaches that have occurred this year and the vast amount of data stolen consequentially.
“We’re likely to see these cyber criminals use stolen credentials from the past few years’ data breaches to compromise the security of even the most secure organisations. Even companies with good cyber protection have little protection against the reuse of passwords that have been collected in other breaches,” said Pinnock.
Mobile technology
As humans are becoming increasingly peripatetic creatures, it is predicted that attacks through mobile phones are likely to get more potent and frequent. Especially with the rollout of new 5G technology, not only will the infrastructure broaden the networks open to attacks, but it will also open up the space to new vulnerabilities that hackers are bound to take advantage of rapidly.
Symantec’s Cyber Security Predictions: 2019 and Beyond report stated that “Over time, more 5G IoT devices will connect directly to the 5G network rather than via a WiFi router. This trend will make those devices more vulnerable to direct attack.”
It may seem like 2019 will be a year of doom and gloom, but with rapidly evolving cybersecurity protocols, fresh regulations and new technologies available on hand, the negativity can be thwarted. The coming year will force organisations, large and small alike, to put online security at the heart of their operations as we progress into a digitally-advanced world.
See the original article here: Cybersecuritynews.co.uk