2020 was a year like no other. It will go down in history for many things, but all pale in the face of the upheaval caused by the worst public health crisis of the century.
Her pandemic COVID-19 έφερε τα πάνω κάτω στη ζωή μας, αποκαλύπτοντας το πόσο εύθραυστοι είμαστε συλλογικά και οδηγώντας πολλούς από εμάς να χάσουμε την όποια αίσθηση control we had until then in our lives. As we move into the new year, the world remains firmly at the mercy of the coronavirus, making predictions about the future more difficult than ever.
It is certain that 2021 will also reveal how much our everyday life is inextricably linked with technology.
Social alienation has become a way of life, keeping us confined to our homes all day and overturning many of our plans. As a result, we are constantly connected and technology is now more than ever a part of modern life.
This includes the work sector, where certain trends are now moving into overdrive amid the inevitably strong need for remote work. This change has led to creation of the absolute storm of cybersecurity challenges as organizations and workforces had to swim (or sink) into the largely uncharted waters of remote work.
It is therefore natural that a section of this year's ESET Cybersecurity Trends 2021 report on cybersecurity trends for the new year should look at the potentially indelible mark left by the pandemic, not only on our work habits but also on the thousands of risks faced by organizations and their employees in cyberspace.
Elsewhere in ESET's Cybersecurity Trends 2021 report, another notable trend is the escalation of the ransomware threat. Certainly, this form of malware has been a strong threat for many years. However, ransomware makers continue to look for new ways to increase their "return on investment," including developing new tactics that tighten the noose around victims.
"We wonder if the latest chapters in the evolution of this type of malware could justify even changing the term 'ransomware'," says Tomáš Foltýn, security writer at ESET.
Of course, there have been other notable developments in the malware scene. The so-called "live-off-the-land" techniques, which exploit the legitimate tools and processes of an operating system and exploit them for malicious purposes, are nothing new.
However, they have evolved more recently and have, as evidenced by ESET researchers, developed into advanced campaigns against various high-profile targets.
Finally, we look at another trend to look out for - the new chapters in the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution. At a time when all objects are connected to the internet, sex toys that are connected to the internet are also looking for a place in the sun. Again, this trend is not entirely new, but it does not make it any less worrying.
With IoT applications come enormous privacy and security challenges, and these take on a whole new meaning when vulnerable internet-connected sex toys come to the fore. As shown by research by ESET, there are several gaps in the security and privacy features of adult smart games, highlighting the generally dangerous situation in the IoT space.
There is a lot more information that can be drawn from this year's edition of the report on cyber security trends. The pandemic has cast a heavy shadow over society, but if there is one good thing that comes out of the crisis, it is that valuable lessons can also be learned from it.
Among them, we must remember that diligence, vigilance and knowledge are powerful tools that allow "immunity" against various types of threats.
