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Cybersecurity Trends To Watch Out For In 2021
January 14, 2021 | Cyber Security
The global health crisis of 2020 has made the world pivot in modern history's most unpredictable ways. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to change our ways of doing things a complete 360-degree turn. Whether it's how we greet our loved ones to how we work, the changes are here to stay.
For generations, the tasks and duties that we thought were possible only offline; we learned to change course online almost overnight. By pushing our boundaries and increasing resilience in adopting digital transformation, we may have changed for future post-pandemic. From anytime anywhere connectivity to a norm of working remotely, our new normal is here to stay.
But just like us, cybercriminals have quickly adapted and changed their course of business. Therefore, we need to pause and think about how the cybersecurity threat landscape has evolved and how cyber-risks may be further redesigned and intensified.
Here are five of the emerging cybersecurity trends and threats that will dominate the cybersecurity landscape, starting 2021:
1. Coronavirus-related Attack
The cybercriminals will continue to leverage the COVID-19 themes for their phishing and social engineering campaigns. Their attacks often coincide with significant events, such as a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases or a new vaccine's announcement. Cybercriminals lure users into clicking a malicious link or attachment disguised as legitimate COVID-19 related topics.
2. Ransomware Cyberattack Attacks
Data by 99 Firms indicates that 71% of breaches in 2020 are financially motivated, with 52% involving hands-on hacking, not autonomous malware. The best way to avoid them going forward is to educate your staff on treating email and files coming from unverified sources. A single mishandled file downloaded to your business' intranet can cause severe harm not only to your internal communication but the business' financial wellbeing
3. Cloud Breaches
As more companies migrate to the cloud to facilitate remote working and ensure business continuity, cybercriminals follow the same trend and target the cloud more frequently. Cloud-based security risks, including cloud misconfigurations, incomplete data deletion, and vulnerable cloud-apps, will be the familiar sources of cyberattacks.
4. Mobile Security Threats
Due to the pandemic, almost all businesses facilitated work from home for their workforce. Employees working remotely use smartphones and tablets that are not adequately secured, patched, and managed by the IT teams. Unfortunately, they bring some unique security threats and vulnerabilities, putting the organization at a cyberattack risk.
5. Threat of 5G Implementation
According to Leftronic, 5G is expected to cover almost 40% of the world by 2024 with data transfer speeds of up to 10GB/s. While the 5G technology will accelerate the pace of working, it will also open the door for new cybersecurity threats.
With high-speed data transfers, hackers will have the ability to infect data packets and conduct corporate surveillance unnoticed. That is until companies shift their focus to keep a close eye out for such malicious breach attempts. The cybersecurity and monitoring efforts will be required to be accelerated once 5G becomes the standard form of cloud-based data transfer and communication.
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To conclude, dedicated solutions designed with malware protection in mind will always work in your favour to protect your business from cyberattacks. However, they are not unstoppable, and IT experts with human intuition will always be the best option for active cybersecurity implementation in 2020-2021.
The best way to stay on top of cyberspace's potential threats is to keep a close eye on the latest news and trends. Sign-up for our Cybersecurity weekly tips emails. Our in-house cybersecurity experts curate these tips to spread knowledge and awareness around cybersecurity.
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