Avoiding vulnerabilities in the cloud
TREND 04 DIGITAL SECURITY
As businesses continue to take new leaps in their technological capabilities to offer faster, more effective services, this will create vulnerabilities that cybercriminals will seek to exploit, with new technologies of their own.
The past year was littered with dozens of data breaches, data exposures, and ransomware attacks. The average cost of an attack rose to between $108k to $1.4 million (depending on the business size), while the average global spend on security products and services is estimated at a new high of $124bn.
The most visible security risk lies in the pockets of every individual. As more business processes and payment options migrate to mobile, these mobile devices will be increasingly targeted. The rise in companies asking workers to use their own mobile devices rather than a company-owned device, which they then use to access corporate systems and documents, will cause problems in the future.
Estimated average global spend on security products and services
Recently, attackers have been moving away from third-party app stores into the mainstream, like Google Play and the Apple App Store. While Google and Apple are competent at vetting new apps on the store, many still slip through the cracks. When these apps are given access permissions to your employees’ mobile devices, they are exposed to data harvesting and cross-device spreading.
Cyber espionage through mobile devices will also become increasingly prevalent. The 2019 incident with Pegasus spyware, which exploited a vulnerability in WhatsApp, is a warning sign for all. A device could be infected by simply receiving a call, whether it was answered or not. As these new vulnerabilities come to light, businesses will need to react quickly to protect their assets.
of business leaders feel their cybersecurity risks are increasing.
Source: Accenture
Additionally, the introduction of 5G will revolutionize the way society and businesses work, but with that comes a significant amount of risk. 5G’s relatively short range will need more communications towers built at closer proximity to one another. This could make it easier for criminals to track and locate the precise location of individuals.
Also, the increased interconnectivity that makes 5G so attractive means service providers will have access to huge sets of data sent between devices, which could be very valuable on the black market.
While all of these new technologies pose a deal of security risk to businesses, it is perhaps still the human factor that will remain the most potent.
The ‘insider market’ continues to grow. This happens when cybercriminals take a list of leaked emails and passwords, locate individuals that interest them, and offer them large sums of money in exchange for compromising data the criminals can then use to blackmail others within the organization.
The stronger the cultural specifics and regional regulations, the faster and more effective the attacker’s leverage is, which is why this is particularly likely to grow in frequency. Against these odds, what can the corporate world do to defend itself? ⬥
Although human effort might not be able to keep up with the sheer volume of attacks hitting networks, the innovation of artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping to identify and respond to new threats at an accelerated rate. But be warned, this technology also exists for cybercriminals. The battle continues.
