As an eventful 2016 draws to a close, what should we expect in cybersecurity for 2017? In this blog series, Morphisec’s security experts predict trends and technologies in 2017. Today’s post is from Netta Schmeidler, Morphisec VP Product.
Ransomware will continue to expand in amount and variety, and employ more sophisticated delivery vectors. Moreover, it could move from a strictly financially-driven crime into attempts to affect strategic outcomes. Like exfiltrated data was used in an attempt to influence the 2016 US election, ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure or enterprises could be used to influence policy or business decisions.
2016 saw several hospitals attacked resulting in appointments being cancelled, surgeries postponed and patient information stolen. If IoT attacks reach the health industries we could see even more disruptions, at a more horrific scale: incorrect dosage of medicines, erroneous test results, disruptions to life-saving machinery. Definitely a prediction that I hope proves to be wrong.
Financial sector attacks could move from relatively isolated incidents that resulted in individual banks shutting down online access to a complete halt in national trading. Transportation systems may be immobilized.
Today, cyber security standards are enforced by regulations, like HIPPA and PCI. In the future we may see the insurance industry taking a more active stand for their customers, even to the point of enforcing the use of various tools.
We cannot fight cyber threats effectively alone. We are already seeing some joint initiatives: Banks working together to share threats, the EU-wide cybersecurity directive. This will grow in scale and spread across industries and countries. We will see it more in law enforcement, like the Global Cyber Alliance, founded by the NY County DA’s office and City of London police to work together to identify cyber criminals.