Check Point Software Technologies has published its cybersecurity forecasts for 2022, detailing the key challenges that organizations will face in the field of security next year.
As cybercriminals continue to exploit the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, they will also find new opportunities for deepfakes, cryptocurrencies, digital cell phone wallets and more.
• Fake news and misinformation campaigns return: Throughout 2021, there has been intense misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccinations. In 2022, cybercriminals will continue to exploit fake news campaigns to carry out phishing attacks and scams.
• Supply chain cyberattacks continue to grow: Supply chain attacks will become more common and governments will start enacting regulations to deal with and protect networks, as well as working with the private sector and other countries to identifying and targeting more threat groups worldwide.
• The "cold war" in cyberspace is intensifying: Advances in infrastructure and technological capabilities will allow terrorist groups and political activists to advance their plans and carry out more sophisticated, widespread attacks. Cyber attacks will increasingly be used as proxy conflicts to destabilize global operations.
• Data breaches will be on a larger scale and more costly: Data breaches will occur more frequently and on a larger scale and will cost organizations and governments more to recover. In May 2021, an American insurance giant paid a ransom of $ 40 million to hackers. This number was a record and indicates that in 2022 we can expect an increase in the ransom that the attackers will ask for.
• Cryptocurrencies are gaining in popularity among cybercriminals: When money becomes purely digital, the security required in cyberspace to protect against hackers who steal and manipulate bitcoins and altcoins is sure to change in many ways.
• Perpetrators target cell phones: As digital wallets and mobile payment platforms become more and more commonly used, cybercriminals will evolve and adapt their techniques to exploit the growing dependence on mobile devices.
• Perpetrators will exploit vulnerabilities in microservices: As Cloud service providers (CSPs) embrace microservices architecture, cybercriminals use vulnerabilities in them to launch large-scale attacks on CSPs.
Deepfake technology is armed for attacks: Fake video or audio techniques are now advanced enough to be a weapon and used to create targeted content to manipulate views, share prices and even worse actions. Threat operators will use deepfake social engineering attacks to gain rights and access to sensitive data.
• Penetration tools continue to grow: In 2021, 1 in 61 organizations worldwide is affected by ransomware every week. The perpetrators will continue to target ransom companies and ransomware attacks will develop further in 2022. Hackers will increasingly use penetration tools to tailor attacks in real time and operate daily within their victims' networks.
"In 2021, cybercriminals have adapted their attack strategy to take advantage of vaccination, election and hybrid instruction guidelines to target supply chains and organisation networks to maximize disruption. Said Maya Horowitz, VP Research at Check Point Software.
"The complexity and scale of cyber attacks will continue to break records and we can expect a huge increase in the number of ransomware attacks and cell phone attacks. Looking ahead, organizations need to be aware of the risks and ensure that they have the right solutions to prevent most attacks, including the most advanced ones, without disrupting the normal flow of business. "In order to stay one step ahead of the threats, organizations must invest in prevention and leave no point unprotected or unattended, otherwise they risk becoming the next victim of sophisticated, targeted attacks."
For the full list of predictions, visit Check Point Software's 2022 Cyber-security Predictions website.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
