Ransomware, COVID-19, and nation-state attacks made 2020 a banner year for cybercrime. Many organizations were caught unprepared, although there had been many warnings about potential pandemics and nothing unexpected in the least about more ransomware attacks or countries waging cyberwar. There are not any signs this year will be better on the cybersecurity front. Criminals are sitting on piles of cash they will invest in improving their attack technologies and infrastructure, and nations will still pursue their political goals via sophisticated hacks.
The pandemic has caused a worldwide change in how employees access corporate systems. albeit there’s been a wholesale shift to remote work, we’ve not yet seen any massive-scale attacks using less protected home networks as a vector, Scott Crawford, an analyst at 451 Research, said. That is the next wave,” said Amr Ahmed, director at Ernst & Young Consulting Services. “Home environments aren’t as secure as corporate networks.”
If attackers target data center or enterprise employees performing from home, they will are available through the weakest points, he said. relations are logging in to their company or school networks or using the web for entertainment. There are not any enterprise-grade firewalls and many of connected consumer devices which will be tons less secure than an enterprise security manager would be comfortable with. Employees commonly access their enterprise systems with a VPN, using traditional login credentials. “If that gets compromised from my headquarters , it can impact the enterprise alright ,” Ahmed said.
For a few of years now we’ve been seeing the potential for AI getting used for malicious purposes. Attackers have used deep fakes to impersonate company executives and steal money, for instance . Researchers have shown that AI are often wont to create new malware, better phishing emails, or find new ways to penetrate corporate networks. But AI-powered attacks are rare. Criminals have much simpler yet effecftive tools at their disposal and no shortage of attack vectors. As companies strengthen their defenses and improve backup systems, however, attackers are investing and innovating. AI promises the power to make highly scalable attacks that are fully automated and tailored for every victim.