Emerging Cyber Security Trends
Discussing emerging cyber security trends this year for our system security plans. As the current IT space is plagued with more security threats and cyber-incidents than ever.
Attackers have gone beyond phishing attacks and are targeting just about everything, from cloud misconfiguration to stolen credentials. As to remote access tools that managed service providers used to carry out certain IT functions.
Needless to say, as the scope and variety of these security breaches expand. So do the procedures and advances that IT and security experts need to design and set up to counteract these attacks.
Experts also know that fixing vulnerabilities in an IT system early on is always cheaper and simpler than mitigating the harm resulting from an attack against these vulnerabilities.
See Also: What cyber security is all about?
While we are looking into a future that could potentially be dangerous and scary. The good thing is that experts have already foreseen the emerging cyber security trends for 2021.
Knowing these trends will help us come up with a fool-proof security plan for our systems and face the next year prepared. Because we should know by now that in the IT ecosystem, surprises are never a good thing.
So, what are the cyber security trends for 2021?
Here are the 6 emerging cyber security trends this year.
1. Increased Automation in Cybersecurity
Ponemon Institute surveyed over 1,400 IT security specialists and found that 79 percent of the respondents either currently use automation tools and platforms in their organization or plan to use them in the next two years.
This means that automation is gaining a significant footing in cyber security space and the world of business. And there is no surprise there.
“Security teams are now having a tougher time making sense of all the data generated by the increasing number of security protection tools. Organizations usually lack the financial resources to employ additional Security Operations Center analysts,” explains Sidd Gavirneni, Co-Founder and CEO at Zeguro.
“Because of this, organizations and their IT specialists are looking to synthesize the process of data collection and analysis and to automate their response to security issues. This step towards automation aims to decrease the burden carried by understaffed IT and IT security teams.”
It should be noted, however, that automation is not an ideal solution by itself. That’s because automation tools still need knowledgeable human resources to run and oversee them.
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2. The Use of AI–both for launching and defending attacks
More and more products in a growing number of market segments are employing machine-learning technologies brought about by advances in artificial intelligence. These segments include cybersecurity. Organizations are using deep learning algorithms for face detection, threat identification, and natural language processing.
Threat identification systems, for one, use ML methods to distinguish entirely new threats. And IT security experts also use AI to solidify their systems from attacks.
How does this work? AI-controlled systems, for example, could simulate a series of attacks on an enterprise system to unearth vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are then fixed or shut before attackers could find them.
However, AI is not always a friend. The enemy can use it, too.
Cybercriminals can also weaponize AI to develop sophisticated attack strategies and malware. AI-controlled automated systems, for instance, could test systems for unfamiliar vulnerabilities that cybercriminals could exploit.
AI can also make modernized phishing and social engineering attacks, such as highly advanced videos and e-mails designed to trick their targeted victims. AI can also launch intelligent disinformation campaigns, fake news, and deep fakes.
3. Cyber Security: Spending to Shoot Up
The need to boost cyber security will drive spending. An IDC Spending Guide had foreseen that worldwide spending on cyber security solutions, which include software, hardware, and services, would reach $103.1 billion this year. That represents a 9.4% increase from the 2018 figure.
Experts expect that this trend and pace would continue for years as businesses progressively invest in security solutions.
According to the IDC report, the United States foresaw to be the largest individual market. Its cybersecurity spending is projected to reach $44.7 billion before the end of 2019.
4. Focus on Cloud Security [cyber security trends]
More and more enterprises are migrating their data, processes, and infrastructure to the cloud. Cloud-based threats will also grow. However, it should be noted that protecting information stored in the cloud requires a unique approach.
Manual security management is just not workable in this case anymore.
For many organizations, avoiding data leakage and ensuring data privacy are their top priority. Sure, Cloud service providers have set up security measures to protect their platforms, but it is ultimately up to clients to secure their data and applications stored in these cloud environments. Businesses must also proactively monitor threats in real-time.
5. Data Protection to Become Global
As 2021 approaches, it’s clearer that personal privacy rights and data protection are going to become big. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) celebrated its first anniversary. Since this revolutionary data protection regulation in Europe rolled out, other countries have also come up with their data protection guidelines:
- Australia, for one, introduced the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme.
- Brazil rolled out its General Data Protection Law.
- Canada now has the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
- California has the Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.
- Japan also got the equivalent of GDPR.
It won’t be a surprise if more and more countries and states come out with their version of the GDPR.
6. IoT and Next-Gen Authentication Technology
Gartner projected that there would be 20.4 billion connected devices used worldwide by 2021. A Business Insider Intelligence study also predicted that by 2026, the Internet of Things market would grow annually to over $3 trillion.
Cybersecurity experts believe that increased adoption of IoT will make both businesses and consumers more vulnerable to online threats. And common IoT security challenges will pave the way for the development of solutions that will address and solve these.
Meanwhile, there’s also the Next-Gen Authentication Technology. It is identity and access validation technology designed to keep threatening variables away from assets and data.
With today’s technological advancements, cybercriminals could easily hack into systems protected by the most complex of passwords. Not to mention the fact that users could grow complacent, that they would use poor password practices.
Because of this, they can expect passwords to become less and less popular, with multi-factor authentication becoming more prevalent in their place.
Multi-factor authentication requires users to provide at least two independent identity verification steps instead of using just one password to access data and services.
New recognition and authentication technologies will also become commonplace. This includes voice, facial, and fingerprint recognition, and others. That would involve identifying individual users through their respective unique physical characteristics and behaviors.
These are just six of the cyber security trends as listed and predicted by IT experts. There are still many emerging cyber security trends that enterprises can expect to go into the near future.
It is important for IT security specialists to continuously update their knowledge about security protocols, remain vigilant, and put security plans in place to combat attacks of any nature.