One of the most prolific security threats that businesses face today is cybercrime. Industry predictions show that in 2021 this problem is expected to cost the world over $6 trillion in damages and losses. Consequently, the only way to limit the risks of a cyber attack is by knowing the threats you face and proactively adopting measures to protect your IT systems and data. Here, we look at the 10 key cybersecurity trends for 2022.
Active risk management
Since cybersecurity preparedness has become a cornerstone of modern operations, more organizations will continue to invest in active risk management solutions. With the dangers of cybercrime across the world expected to continue growing, the adoption of fraud prevention tools has become the most effective solution for protection against internal and external threats. Most notably, security and risk management will become an issue that demands stricter oversight and scrutiny, given its critical value in sustaining daily operations.
Enhanced user awareness
The human factor remains the weakest link in cyber vulnerabilities, as human mistakes are the leading cause of data breach incidents. Organizations can no longer afford to ignore this critical element, and to minimize these threats, employee education on cybersecurity best practices will continue to grow. You should Consider keeping your employees up-to-date with the proper security protocols by investing in a cybersecurity bootcamp from codingbootcamps.io.
This will lead to enhanced user awareness that is particularly critical for smooth-flowing remote work that has opened a new avenue for more sophisticated attacks.
Machine learning and AI in cybersecurity
According to Syxsense, Machine learning and AI are refining efforts in fighting cybercrime by providing enterprises with advanced capabilities to monitor their IT systems, battle bots, predict threats, and protect data. These technologies rely on rich and sophisticated data to develop patterns manipulated with algorithms to figure potential scenarios that might leave you vulnerable. This helps increase threat detection rates, optimize important data centers, improve network security, and reduce response time to an attack.
Nevertheless, machine learning and AI also have negative aspects as cybercriminals equally use these technologies to carry out their attacks. This has led to more advanced attacks as hackers quickly learn the weak points of an IT system, gain unauthorized entries without detection, and carry out a perfect cybercrime using techniques such as deepfakes. Consequently, introducing these technologies in cybersecurity has become a double-edged sword that is highly important for the modern IT security team.
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Refined cloud security solutions
Cloud adoption statistics show that more businesses are moving to this IT environment and willing to increase their budgets in the future. While this technology’s speed, ease of scalability, and remote accessibility make it a top choice for most enterprises, it has come with its unique security challenges. Luckily, with the rapid growth of the cloud computing market, there has been the introduction of advanced cloud-native security solutions to make this environment secure and extra reliable. These predictive and innovative solutions are particularly loved as they allow IT teams to pinpoint attack points, prevent system takeovers, and enhance endpoint security.
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GDPR compliance
As the first major legislation for consumer privacy, GDPR is currently being used as a base for standardizing data laws. Since the EU nations have already adopted these standards, it has stirred a global movement towards accepting these laws as operational standards. Leading the way are companies that target the EU market with predictions suggesting that by 2023, 75% of the world’s population will be covered with similar modern privacy laws.
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Mobile devices as attack vectors
Mobile devices are the new breeding ground for targeted attacks and data leakages. As the percentage of smart mobile device usage grows, hackers are increasingly finding more routes to use these platforms as attack vectors. It has become worse with the growing use of eCommerce software on these devices and more organizations accepting employees to use their own devices for work-related activities. Going forward, enterprises will have to introduce stricter BYOD policies with extra security processes required by eCommerce before completing an online transaction.
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Increased focus on IoT devices
The internet of things (IoT) dominates the market today, and even as enterprises plan to invest more in these tools, you cannot ignore their security vulnerabilities. Most notably, has been the ease of hijacking these devices allowing hackers to gain remote control of IoT items for severe intrusions or DoS attacks. The most prevalent problem has been cases of infected routers and invasion of cameras that present a big problem for families and businesses that need to keep their premises secure. To counter these extreme threats, more focus is expected on addressing IoT vulnerabilities for the enhanced practicality of this technology.
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Geo-targeted phishing threats
Phishing attacks are the most pervasive cybersecurity threat, and despite growing knowledge about these scams, more people are still falling victims to them. This has largely been propelled by the highly localized and personalized attacks that cybercriminals now run. These well-executed crimes are done using malicious URLs and business email compromise attacks that are harder to detect. This has necessitated organizations to adopt comprehensive security awareness programs to enhance data security and make employees less susceptible to these threats.
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Authentication evolution
For too long, hackers have relied on bots and scripted apps to get around authentication processes and access an IT system. However, there is an evolution in how enterprises approach authentications today as long gone are the days when all an employee needed was a single password. The implementation of multi-factor authentication, biometric access, and the use of smart cards will make it harder for cybercriminals to carry out their attacks.
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Privileged access management and zero-trust systems
Privileged access management (PAM) and the introduction of zero trust systems will be more prominent as foolproof solutions for securing IT infrastructures. These security frameworks operate by cutting off access until one verifies their identity. This makes it harder for anyone inside or outside the organization to become a link for security and data breaches. PAM solutions also enable a quick de-escalation of situations upon threat detection as the administrator can instantly lock everyone out of the network.
Endnote
Cyber attacks are getting more sophisticated by the day, and you need to be aware of the latest trends in the cybersecurity sector to stay safe. Most importantly, you must continuously evolve your protective measures to keep up with the latest best practices to keep hackers at bay.