Cybersecurity is poised for a notorious year. The next 12 to 18 months will see greater, bolder, and more complex attacks emerge. This year’s installment for the top computer security predictions highlights how the threats are advancing, outpacing defenders, and the landscape is becoming more professional and organized. Although the view of our cybersecurity future is obscured, one thing is for certain: We’re in for an exciting ride.
In this blog I’ll discuss my first five predictions; click here to see the next 5 predictions: Evolution of Cybersecurity in 2015 Part 2
Top Predictions:
1. Cyber warfare becomes legitimate
Governments will leverage their professional cyber warfare assets as a recognized and accepted tool for governmental policy. For many years governments have been investing in cyber warfare capabilities, and these resources will begin to pay dividends.
2. Active government intervention
Governments will be more actively involved in responding to major hacking events affecting their citizens. Expect government response and reprisals to foreign nation-state attacks, which ordinary business enterprises are not in a position to act or counter. This is a shift in policy, both timely and necessary to protect how the public enjoys life under the protection of a common defense.
3. Security talent in demand
The demand for security professionals is at an all-time high, but the workforce pool is largely barren of qualified candidates. The best talent has been scooped up. A lack of security workforce talent, especially in leadership roles, is a severe impediment to organizations in desperate need of building and staffing in-house teams. We will see many top-level security professionals jump between organizations, lured by better compensation packages. Academia will struggle to refill the talent supply in order to meet the demand.
4. High profile attacks continue
High-profile targets will continue to be victimized. As long as the return is high for attackers while the effort remains reasonable, they will continue to target prominent organizations. Nobody, regardless of how large, is immune. Expect high-profile companies, industries, government organizations, and people to fall victim to theft, hijacking, forgery, and impersonation.
5. Attacks get personal
We will witness an expansion in strategies in the next year, with attackers acting in ways that put individuals directly at risk. High profile individuals will be threatened with embarrassment, exposing sensitive healthcare, photos, online activities, and communication data. Everyday citizens will be targeted with malware on their devices to siphon bank information, steal crypto-currency, and to hold their data for ransom. For many people this year, it will feel like they are being specifically targeted for abuse.
To see the next 5 predictions click here: Evolution of Cybersecurity in 2015 Part 2
If you’d like to check out my video series surrounding my predictions, you can find more here.
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