11 Emerging Cybersecurity Trends in 2021

On top of this, companies now create policies focusing on how employees handle and share confidential corporate data. Criminals have learned to piggyback into private networks through connected home appliances and smart devices, thanks to the lack of security standards among the thousands of device manufacturers and service providers.

• Just like the coronavirus outbreak, cybersecurity attacks also take place on a global scale and happen every few seconds.
• In 2020, ransomware attacks were more expensive than the average data breach, costing $4.44 million on average.
• These figures show that cyberattacks in the healthcare sector are far from being stopped.
• With more and more organizations now established on clouds, security measures need to be continuously monitored and updated to safeguard the data from leaks.

Businesses in financial services are more prone to cyberattacks than other industries. The first involves the spreading of “fake news” and false narratives – usually designed to slur a candidate – via social media. The second is direct attacks against candidates’ or digital electoral infrastructure. The PG Program in Cyber Security will equip you with the skills needed to become an expert in this rapidly growing domain. A recent study by Imperva indicates that application programming interface security readiness typically lags behind web app security across the majority of organizations today. Additionally, more than two-thirds of the organizations readily make APIs available to the public to allow external developers and partners to tap into their app ecosystems and software platforms. To protect against these threats, organizations need to quickly and accurately detect, investigate and respond to issues that could be indicators of insider attacks.

What is a Security Vulnerability/Bug?

So, a lot of the security responsibility rests on the customers’ shoulders. Phishing scams typically employ social engineering to steal user credentials for both on-premises attacks and cloud services attacks. Therefore, a critical cyber security trend is for organizations to focus on the security challenges of distributed workforces. This means identifying and mitigating new security vulnerabilities, improving systems, implementing security controls, and ensuring proper monitoring and documentation.

• She has covered all the major developments in SaaS and B2B software solutions, from the introduction of massive ERPs to small business platforms to help startups on their way to success.
• Meanwhile, some sectors have also resorted to leveraging multi-factor authentication to reinforce security.
• Multi-factor authentication is regarded as the gold standard of authentication.
• With the growing number of high-profile cyber attacks exposing millions of personally identifiable information records, concerns about data privacy, management and security have skyrocketed.
• Having doubled in 2020, phishing attacks steadily increased throughout 2021, with remote work making it harder for businesses to ensure their users aren’t falling victim.
• In 2020, IBM found a $3.58 million difference in the average total cost of a data breach for organizations without security automation versus those with automation fully deployed.

The average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million, so organizations must take steps to minimize cloud threats. In turn, cybersecurity awareness could help prevent the onslaught of threats and attacks. Some organizations have started to implement the combined use of web- and classroom-based methods and visual aids for cybersecurity awareness training and promotions.

Geo-Targeted Phishing Threats

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. Security Scorecard’s 2018 Education Cybersecurity Report pointed out that in terms of cybersecurity, education comes in last out of the 17 industries in the US .

However, malicious actors are finding new ways to bypass it – specifically, authentication carried out via SMS or phone calls. As a result, in 2020, Microsoft advised users to stop using phone-based MFA, recommending instead using app-based authenticators and security keys.

How Can I Deal with Security Vulnerabilities and Bugs?

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He has more than seven years of experience in digital marketing and loves to read and write about education technology, AI, machine learning, data science, and other emerging technologies. By Verizon reveals that phishing remains the number one cause of data breaches globally.

How Do I Avoid Having Security Gaps?

Criminals exploiting critical security vulnerabilities within Android devices. Organizations are increasing their protection against phishing, but criminals are always looking for new ways to stay ahead. This includes sophisticated phishing kits which target victims differently depending on their location. You can read about the most significant ransomware attacks of 2020 here and about different types of ransomware here.

And in case you’re looking for the perfect security software for your company, we compiled the best IT security software companies currently available. An innovative endpoint security software built to help businesses thwart malware and other forms of cyber threats. The 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report shows that 34 percent of breaches involve internal actors. Insider threats not only involve malicious attacks, but also the negligent use of systems and data by employees.

5G architecture is comparatively new in the industry and requires a lot of research to find loopholes to make the system secure from external attack. Every step of the 5G network might bring a plethora of network attacks that we might not be aware of. Here manufacturers need to be very strict in building sophisticated 5G hardware and software to control data breaches. The trend towards remote working is also accelerating the growth of mobile. For remote workers, it’s normal to switch between a range of mobile devices, such as tablets and phones, using public Wi-Fi networks and remote collaboration tools. The ongoing rollout of 5G technology also creates potential security vulnerabilities which, as they become known, will need to be patched.

Panda Security specializes in the development of endpoint security products and is part of the WatchGuard portfolio of IT security solutions. Initially focused on the development of antivirus software, the company has since expanded its line of business to advanced cyber-security services with technology for preventing cyber-crime. As companies set out to hire more cybersecurity professionals, they should also focus on educating their employees on how to spot attacks on their own. While it may take some time to adequately staff your organization with the right cybersecurity experts, implementing company-wide training can provide a buffer for attacks in the interim. Training should be continuous and companies should constantly measure its effectiveness. Executives should also be involved—for such an initiative to be successful, it must be implemented from the top down. With the rapid and widespread adoption of remote work following COVID-19, the necessity for cloud-based services and infrastructure increased drastically.

The rise of ransomware

In this age of digital transformation and globalization, cybercriminals are constantly looking for fresh exploits and coming up with advanced strategies to defraud and damage institutions and organizations. In light of this fact, businesses should be mindful of not just the ever-growing number of vulnerabilities but also of the cybersecurity threats that are in store. The reason why insider attacks remain one of the biggest cybersecurity threats to watch for year after year is that they have an enormous potential to cause damage. One disgruntled or careless employee can break your network security open wide enough to allow for a major data security breach. One of the biggest ongoing cybersecurity threats faced by any business is its own employees. The inside access that employees have make them capable of inflicting great harm if they choose to abuse their access privileges for personal gain. Or, they may accidentally allow their user accounts to be compromised by attackers, or unknowingly download dangerous malware onto their workstations.

• In light of this fact, businesses should be mindful of not just the ever-growing number of vulnerabilities but also of the cybersecurity threats that are in store.
• The advent of malicious mobile apps has increased the risk of mobile phones containing malware which could potentially lead to a security breach.
• This means identifying and mitigating new security vulnerabilities, improving systems, implementing security controls, and ensuring proper monitoring and documentation.
• With most businesses establishing their operations in cyberspace, a tight security system is not just an option—it is a must-have if you want to ensure fool-proof protection for your company and your consumers.
• To protect against these threats, organizations need to quickly and accurately detect, investigate and respond to issues that could be indicators of insider attacks.
• The same goes for ransomware attacks, which continue to provide a solid source of income for international cybercrime.
• Though generally, ransomware asks to threaten to publish the victim’s data unless a ransom is paid still it can affect the large organization or in case of nations too.

SMS phishing – sometimes known as ‘smishing’ – is also gaining prominence, thanks to the popularity of messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Slack, Skype, Signal, WeChat, and others. Attackers use these platforms to try to trick users into downloading malware onto their phones. This means that if one account is compromised, a hacker can use this password on work and social media accounts to gain access to all of the user’s information on these accounts. The specific countermeasures for a DDoS attack can vary depending on the methodology of the attack. For example, there are volume-based, protocol-based, and application layer attacks. A solution that might mitigate a volume-based attack, such as simply adding sufficient capacity to handle the fake bandwidth , wouldn’t be able to counter a protocol-based or application layer DDoS attack. A better solution might be to blacklist IP addresses that are identified as being part of a DDoS attack, but that still may not work for all DDoS attack types.

Read our detailed guide to working from home safely for more information and advice. As well as understanding the risks your employees need to know how to use these devices safely and responsibly in your business. There are numerous reasons a company would decide to use removable media in their environment. As well as the devices themselves, it is important your employees are protecting the data on these devices. One major factor is due to how sophisticated these types of attacks have become. Attackers are now using smarter techniques to trick employees into compromising sensitive data or downloading malicious attachments. In the business world, these AI-generated fake videos or audios can be used to impersonate CEOs, steal millions from enterprises, spread wrong information about them, and interrupt business operations.