Emerging cybersecurity threats in 2020

New cyberthreats are emerging as more of the physical things in your home, office, and even in your pockets connect to digital networks. At the same time, machine learning and artificial intelligence are quickly adapting to human-designed security systems, which poses unique challenges for businesses that plan on adopting this technology.

To keep your business safe, it’s important to know about the biggest threats that will likely crop up in the coming months. Here are some of the top potential cybersecurity threats you need to watch out for.

Increasingly sophisticated email scams

Phishing is a common tactic used by cybercriminals to compromise data. It involves sending fraudulent messages to select users in an effort to get them to reveal sensitive information or unwittingly install malicious programs. One popular method mimics a note from a user’s bank, insisting the recipient change their user password immediately to ensure the security of their account. When a recipient clicks on an embedded link to change their password, they are taken to a mock web page looking exactly like their online banking page and asked to enter their current password.

While this seems to many like an easy trap to avoid, the truth is that the programs and algorithms that select the recipients, craft the messages, and create the mock portals are becoming more and more sophisticated. Every user must stay abreast of these changes and must be up to date on the shifting nuances of best practices for email use at work and at home.

Ramped-up ransom attacks

Ransomware attacks, whereby hackers infiltrate a network to take control of a person or organization’s digital infrastructure and demand money for its release, are big business. Researchers believe the cost to American businesses every year is in the billions of dollars. As cryptocurrencies gain popularity, the incentive to build more sophisticated and more devastating ransomware is even greater.

The cyber meets the physical

Considering that the critical infrastructure behind every major system we depend on is increasingly digitized, even the physical world around us is at risk from hacks. Electrical grids, mass transits systems, waste and water management plants, police and fire departments, hospitals, and more are all reliant on complex cloud and digital technologies.

This has created massive efficiencies but also introduced epic vulnerabilities. In fact, cities that are increasingly relying on internet-connected systems like Atlanta and Baltimore have fallen victim to crippling attacks, and these trends are only accelerating.

Bad state actors

Nefarious state actors are increasingly targeting private businesses and high-net-worth individuals to cripple their adversaries’ economies and enrich themselves. Because 2020 is a particularly high-stakes election year, state-sponsored attacks are expected to increase dramatically.

The emerging Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the invisible, cloud-based networks that now connect everything from refrigerators, doorbells, watches, medical devices and more. With some researchers projecting the number of connected devices to reach 75 billion by 2025, we and our things are all more connected than ever, but also more vulnerable. Attacks on a digital infrastructure that controls so much can wreak havoc on an organization or an entire society.

But the IoT — like email, digital currency, networked infrastructures, and every other technological development — also enables us to become vastly more productive and efficient. It is not a take-it-or-leave-it scenario. The answer is to embrace what’s on the horizon, but with a healthy caution.

These threats merely scratch the surface of the threats you can expect in the coming months, so tune in to TechSquared’s blog for the latest security developments. You should also speak with us today to get access to cutting-edge security solutions designed to fend off the biggest and baddest threats.