The fact that the technology panorama is frequently shifting isn’t a new miracle, however it’s certainly been taken to new heights in the last year. The word “interruption” effectively describes the experiences of countless organizations within COVID-19—nobody could have predicted its impact on business, technology and cyber-security. Here, we’ll analyze the emerging threat landscape that’s come as a result, and what cyber-security trends pose the most risk in 2021 and elsewhere.
1. Impact of Remote Businesses
It’s no wonder that COVID and the ensuing shift to remote work had chief implications for the world of cyber-security. For many, it involved unplanned cloud migrations and swift attaining of IT products and services to accommodate a newly distant landscape. In the effort to keep business operations running, many companies rushed typical security measures or even side-stepped them entirely, creating new levels of vulnerability and risk across all industries.
Possible Solutions:
Organizations will need to assess their current security infrastructures for areas of weakness that were left unattended during the sudden shift to remote and start thinking about a long-term remote security strategy going forward. If your organization experienced a sudden shift to a remote workforce, you must identify areas of weakness that left your company vulnerable to threats.
2. New Challenges from Ransomware
Notorious ransomware is one of the most common threats to any organization’s data security, and this threat will continue to increase and evolve as a top cybersecurity trend in 2021. Ransomware attacks prevalent organizations with data theft and economic blows due to the costs of recuperating from these attacks.
The complexity of techniques criminals are using is growing, too. There’s an increasing emphasis on blackmail attacks, where criminals steal a company’s data and encrypt it so they can’t access it. Afterward, cybercriminals will blackmail the company, threatening to release its private data unless a ransom is paid. The encumbrance of this cyber-threat is momentous given the sensitive data on the line as well as the economic impact of paying the ransom. The most common entry vector for ransomware is phishing, and organizations should realize these attacks are ramping up significantly and act accordingly.
Possible Solution:
Transition to ZTNA to toughen your company’s remote access network and reduce the risk of an attack.
3. Increased Use of Double-Factor Authentication
While passwords endure a standard for cyber-security best practices, more companies will adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA) as an additional protection against data breaches and malicious attacks in 2021. MFA involves the use of two or more separate factors in authorizing users to access secure data, compelling people to use more than one device to confirm their identity.
Possible Solution:
Consider implementing MFA in your organization, and be wary of the risks associated with phone-based MFA.
4. Rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI):
AI and machine learning are mounting in complexity and capability, and companies will continue to hone these technologies in 2021 as part of their security structure. AI is progressively being used to build automated security systems that replace human intervention, making it probable to analyze massive quantities of risk data at a much faster pace. This is beneficial both for large companies dealing with huge amounts of data and small or mid-sized companies whose security teams might be under-resourced.
Possible Solution:
If you haven’t already, execute AI-powered security systems in your business to update threat detection efforts and possibly save millions in the event of a data breach.
5. Augmented Attacks on Cloud Services
Through the rapid and widespread adoption of remote work following COVID-19, the necessity for cloud-based services and infrastructure improved drastically. Working into 2021 and beyond, this trend will only continue to grow as more businesses adopt cloud-hosted processes. While cloud services offer a treasure of benefits such as scalability, efficiency and lower costs, they’re still a prime target for attackers. Organizations will need to take stock of the security implications that come with the cloud and determine any vulnerability that exist in their current infrastructure.
Possible Solution:
Before experiencing a workload exodus to the cloud, make sure you’re aware of the security measures you should have in place to avoid a data breach.
6. Data Privacy as a Discipline
With the growing number of high-profile cyber-attacks exposing millions of personally recognizable information records, concerns about data privacy, management and security have skyrocketed. In 2021, data privacy will no longer remain a single factor of a security program, but will become a program of its own. Regulatory obedience requirements have continued to increase and will continue to do so in 2021, and organizations will be compulsory to focus on their data privacy efforts moving forward.
Possible Solution:
Data privacy is taking a larger role in the security of organizations across all businesses, and taking the time to understand the areas of softness in your business should be a top priority.
7. Pandemic Phishing Schemes (COVID-19)
By the continued release of the COVID-19 vaccination, people are gradually searching for vaccination information such as where it’s being provided and who’s been approved to get it. Regrettably, this has brought about a significant level of phishing attacks tied to the COVID-19 vaccine. Attacks against pharmaceutical companies and vaccine distributors, along with email phishing attacks disguised as vaccination appointment emails, are on the uptick.
Possible Solution:
Improve your company’s identity management strategy to combat an insecure remote workforce, and ensure all departments are aligned with the policies enacted to alleviate risk.
8. Cybersecurity Professionals
Discovery well-trained cybersecurity professionals has factually been a challenge across all industries, but the continued shift to and dependence on a more distributed workforce is creating a more critical need for them in 2021. Organizations will need to push to find well-trained professionals and subject matter experts to help increase the security of corporate networks.
Possible Solution:
Prioritize cyber-security staffing company-wide security training as a top goal for 2021.
9. Insider Threats Increase
As we continue to circumnavigate a remote workforce, insider threats are becoming a heightened area of concern. While it’s far easier to believe that all cybersecurity threats come from external forces, organizations shouldn’t ignore the reality and increasing intricacy of threat actors within their own company. This is especially true as organizations continue to hire remote-only employees who are distributed across the world, and who they may have hired only after meeting virtually.
Possible Solution:
Inside data breaches are on the rise, and companies should have the proper tools and systems in place to detect them.
10. Increased Need for Chief Security Officers
Although the need for supported security systems across industries is well known, only few of companies report a high degree of confidence in managing or responding to a cyber-attack. Security risk management as a restraint is still growing, so while this data isn’t all that surprising, it should be an area of importance for companies moving into 2021. One increasingly common barrier is a lack of alignm
ent between security operations and business strategy.
Possible Solution
Always hire appropriate highly expert security officer for your business.
Courtesy and References:
https://www.cybersecuritylawsrc.com/top-cybersecurity-trends/