The world of cyber crime and hacking has made the internet a pretty scary place over the past couple years. In fact, 2016 is thought by many to be the most unsecure year to date with numerous cyber attacks on individuals, corporations, websites, and governments. While it’s all but impossible to give up our dependence on the internet, particularly for businesses, there are some things we can all do to protect ourselves and our data in 2017. Looking ahead, here are the biggest cyber trends that we think will shape the year to come.
The Internet of Things
As IoT becomes increasingly more prevalent, both in our personal and professional lives, it also brings in vast amounts of data worth hacking and vulnerable devices that can act as entry points into our networks. One of the challenges with IoT devices is their natural openness and connectivity. They are protected with default passwords and have a limited amount of security features built in, thus making them an easy target for hackers who know what they’re doing. As is the case with most of our network vulnerabilities, that convenience also puts users at risk.
To protect yourself in the new realm of IoT, keep up with security updates and use the same common sense behaviors that protect you elsewhere on the web, because we expect IoT hacks to become one of the next big things in 2017.
Increased Security Automation
As cyber crime increases, so too must our response increase. But the man hours it can take to develop and maintain up to the minute security procedures and gateways would cost far more than is practical for many corporations. Furthermore, the skills gap within the cyber security industry is quoted as being the number one problem in the industry.Therefore, we expect to see an overall increase in security automation to keep up with hackers without breaking the bank. Look to see an uptick in automation technology to help enforce software updates, compliance changes, and allow for instant detection of breaches and automatic remediation responses. While far from perfect, these response are far better than the lack of protection available otherwise.
Cyber Attacks on Public Figures
The 2016 election was just a peek into how hacking can influence history. Expect to see more such examples of cyber crime targeted toward public figures and with the goal of influence public opinion and even policy decisions. Hackers are experts at finding and circulating embarrassing photos, documents, and other files with the goal of shaming or even exploiting individuals. There is plenty of room for hackers to extend their reach in this realm, so look to 2017 to show us what more they are capable of.
Cyber Crime as a Form of National Terrorism
Cyber terror is a very real and pressing issue. We predict that scams and hacks such as ransomware, attacks on infrastructure, and even hacking of nuclear power plants. This might seem like the kind of issue movie franchises are built on, but it is a clear and present danger. The concern was recently voiced by Philip Hammond, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a speech he gave on the threat of cyber attack.
For more tips on how you can protect your company and your data in 2017, reach out to the team at Happy Faces Records Management today!
