Technology continues to develop and impact how individuals, businesses and communities function. In 2020 cyber security will need to be front and center of every organization’s agenda and for good reason.
1) Cyberattacks Will Get Worse
Cyber breaches were all too common in 2019. The news flooded with stories of cyberattacks on schools,
municipalities,
cities and even big name
private companies. If you think this is as bad as it gets, you’re wrong. In fact, cyberattacks are increasing against small businesses. Industry experts estimate cybersecurity incidents will cost businesses more over $5 trillion within the next five years alone. The cost associated with cybercrimes are dangerous for businesses. Even worse, a business might not even know the totality of damage caused by an attack until years afterward. That’s because cybercrime costs include not only stolen money or data, but lost productivity, reputational damage, and more. Despite global spending in cybersecurity reaching $1 trillion by 2021, organizations admit feeling under-prepared to deal with advanced cyberattacks. We aren’t talking about a guy in his mother’s house trying to access files from his laptop. These are coordinated attacks organized by highly skilled criminal networks.
2019 Attacks on Banks are Attacks on Government
Financial Institutions were particularly
popular targets because they have valuable information hackers can use or sell. As well as the indirect impact they have over governments. Governments rely on financial institutions for economic stability. In other words, if a banks are vulnerable, economies are vulnerable. In February of 2019 several credit unions across the U.S. were hit by
spear-phishing emails impersonating compliance officers from other credit unions. Fast forward to May, FirstBank, Colorado’s largest locally-owned bank, experienced a breach that resulted in the cancellation of many customer payment cards. The most famous example of a breach this past year was the Capital One Data Breach. The bank announced the breach compromised around 100 million card holders after a software engineer hacked into its cloud server. Based on this, we can expect that these types of breaches will only become more frequent.
2) IoT Will Increase Vulnerabilities
And now, with Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology growing in popularity, security risks are only going to increase. As a matter of fact, by 2020 it is estimated that approximately 20 billion devices will be connected to the internet. A few months ago, a story broke about a family in Texas who had their Ring security camera hacked and the hacker used it to harass their children. The Ring doorbell system is an example of Smart home, IoT devices and they are becoming increasingly popular. By the end of 2020, projections state that 28 percent of total households will be smart homes. It’s speculated that this trend has to do with lowered device prices and market preferences. As IoT grows in popularity, property owners integrate smart devices into their homes. Businesses are also getting in on the action. Business owners save energy costs with smart lighting, thermostats and sensors by regulating temperature and light according to the time of day. Integrating smart devices means more data to store. In this case, developing security measures to protect this new data will become imperative. IoT, however, is only the tip of the iceberg.
3) Look Out for AI
Artificial Intelligence becomes more mainstream, we’ll see the deployment of AI based malware or phishing attacks in 2020. With AI technology, a cybercriminal can perform multiple attacks on a network with ease. That’s because AI can learn to attacks by itself and increase its knowledge on its target. In the age of machine learning, AI malware may very well become among the most serious threats. Another threat to look out for in 2020 is the use of Deepfakes. Deepfakes are media that replace an individual’s face with the likeness of another using advanced software. A malicious actor could superimpose the face of an employer onto their own and create a video requesting access to sensitive data, for example. This technology’s main purpose it to proliferate disinformation and create confusion among its targets. As a result, cybercriminals are already using deepfakes to scam companies into relinquishing large sums of money. Costs related to deepfakes will exceed $250 million in 2020.
4) Cloud is Taking Over
Public cloud services is set to grow 17 percent in 2020 to a total of $226.4 billion,
according to Gartner, Inc. Moreover, the largest market segment in terms of growth will be Software as a service (SaaS). Gartner predicts further that cloud based application services industry will be 143.7 billion by 2022. This new decade promises rapid growth in smart technology, AI, and cloud software, but the more connected we become the more vulnerable we are. Cyber-attacks will increase and evolve as attackers adopt newer technologies to improve their effectiveness. Managed IT services will become more prominent as businesses migrate to a cloud provider for their data and IT needs. Governments and businesses will have to make cybersecurity a top priority in 2020 to ensure their data and information isn’t stolen, used or sold on the darkweb. For more information on how you can prepare for this new decade of cyber threats, IT consulting Miami, or cloud news visit our
website or read our blog on
how to keep your business safe against cyber attacks. 
