With the digital revolution happening worldwide, we have witnessed the IT scenery shifting dramatically in the last decade. Apart from exploring new models for technology, businesses and individuals are also looking at technology in terms of strategic endeavour that directly accelerates growth. With the rise of the Internet of Things, the metaverse, and other internet trends, cybersecurity will become progressively important and can no longer be in a stage to be ignored by organisations or any individual.
For businesses, one of the biggest points of hindrances is cybersecurity. Teams now need to constantly adapt to a threat environment that is constantly changing. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of cyberattacks rose by 125%, and this growth will continue into 2023. Businesses face a lot of risks from external cyber-attacks, and for the coming year, they must take steps to obtain the ability to identify and combat these cyber threats. Whether it’s a small, medium, or large corporate organisation, it is affecting every business and now is demanding new levels of data protection. In this fast-moving cybersecurity sector, hackers and security providers compete to outsmart each other as new threats and innovative ways to combat them keep emerging all the time. Cybersecurity is constantly changing and has become a primary goal to safeguard data from various online attacks or any kind of unauthorized access.
INFORMATION SECURITY TRENDS AFFECTING IN 2023
Some of the top security risks that organizations will face in 2023 include ransomware attacks, data breaches, and data privacy laws. Artificial intelligence will help the cyber security platform by streamlining efforts and replacing some manual tasks that people perform daily. Because of how many different types of security controls or measures are needed, security resources must give extra consideration. As an alternative device, the mobile phone has become the new target for predators or cybercriminals. Additionally, it is a tool we use for personal and professional needs. And while this environment exists in a private network, special care must be taken to enable security measures when enabling official applications on a personal device.
Attackers use a variety of cutting-edge networks and continually develop new, creative ways to launch attacks. Several factors, such as rising cloud adoption and increased mobile and IoT device use, are driving this landscape. Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, advanced analytics, and RPA are being adopted more frequently. Vendors are making significant investments in managing and enhancing the ability to handle alerts with automated remediation and responses. Organizations must maintain the absolute minimum level of security, as required by regulators and government officials. Businesses must concentrate on strengthening their cyber security posture and assessing their level of attack readiness. To make sure how well they are compliant, it is suggested to conduct an RCA or self-assessment.
As we move forward towards a new normal, a variety of cybersecurity trends can be predicted for the year 2023.
Rise in vulnerabilities with the increase in IoT devices
The internet has allowed millions across the globe to access and connect various objects and devices through the internet and establish a connection with similarly connected machines or devices. IoT has expanded significantly in a short period, and these smart gadgets are utilised in both personal and business settings that show indicators of increased demand in the future. As IoT becomes more popular, security flaws are expected to increase side by side, and with it, several new dimensions are created for this cybersecurity threat. Every new device connecting to the internet can be considered a potential entry point for all cybercriminals. We are all increasingly dependent on our connected devices which could mean that any successful hack would be considered extremely troublesome and costly, be it at a personal or a business level. With this increase in everyday objects becoming an item of the internet such as our Alexa and robot vacuums, the attack surface of our private networks expands. These devices can be an easier target for malicious hackers as they have very limited capabilities, making it difficult to install firewall patches and antivirus software.
AR & VR providing virtual reality learning platforms
Once a science fiction, but now an integral part of the technology sector, AR/VR technologies contain the potential to not only contribute to business growth but also to change cybersecurity for the better. Studies have highlighted and proved that the deficit of trained staff and cybersecurity professionals is one of the major reasons for data breaches. AR and VR technology can provide us with a solution in this case through training platforms and virtual reality learning. They allow employees to get first-hand experience on how to deal with cyber-attacks or social engineering attacks. AR & VR can also help organisations build a practical incident response plan. By identifying the attack points through visualization that compromised the organisation’s security system and weak points, the security professionals will be able to identify the endpoints they needed to secure for preventing further attacks. The lack of awareness is one of the major concerns for cybersecurity professionals and organisations should arrange to provide robust training methods to spread awareness and educate their employees regarding cybersecurity. These training sessions will allow people with non-technical backgrounds to better understand cyber risks and threats.
Remote working will remain a serious threat
The pandemic brought unprecedented changes in the business sector and most organisations were forced to shift their workstation from offices to their respective homes. Post-pandemic, even a lot of organisations have continued working remotely and will resume doing so. As organisations try to foresee what work life would look like after the post-pandemic situation, one of the major issues they’ll have to address is the cyber security risks of working from home. According to Renu Bala, Associate Research Director at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, “As we see new and emerging devices with the capability of sharing their internal states and external conditions, extensive information exchange is expected amongst the devices exposing them to a variety of threat actors as each IP presents itself as a direct entry point into the network.”
Working remotely has the expected chances of new cybersecurity risks and is an ongoing as well as an upcoming popular trend in this domain. Home offices are less secure than centralized offices which are laden with secure firewalls, routers and access management run by security teams. A lot of employees are also using their devices for two-factor authentication which can also contribute to the increased risk of sensitive information falling into the wrong hands. Systems can get too vulnerable without the security protections offered by office systems. Since all tasks are conducted online, the risk of a cybercriminal compromising on it always remains high. With documents and email attachments on the cloud and ample information being shared digitally, our attack surface grows wider daily. By addressing fresh security flaws, enhancing existing systems, putting in place security controls, and making sure that monitoring and documentation are done properly, precautions should be taken to battle the rising cybersecurity issues.
The rise in the use of Multi-Factor Authentication
The use of MFA has increased in the last decade to a great extent. Also known as two-factor authentication or 2FA, multi-factor authentication refers to a system which has more than two forms of authentication. This security feature is common and dramatically improves account security. Companies have now combined passwords and MFA to increase the layer of protection and reduce the chances of any data leak. It’s a way to secure every application at risk. It requires the users to submit a username, a password, and an additional security step to give access to the application. If your organisation has a proprietary database, email or other sensitive information, MFA will guard it against any hacking opportunities.
The demand for more secure digital payments and solutions to rising threats will rise, and so will the multifactor authentication market. Most people ignore two-factor authentication for various reasons, either they are too lazy, or they simply hesitate to apply for it. This reluctance has forced several tech companies to make MFA mandatory. For instance, Amazon has already made two-factor authentication compulsory and google is gradually working its way to making MFA mandatory.
Biometric security is going to be the new norm
The cornerstone of contemporary identity management and security is biometric authentication. Most consumer multi-factor authentication solutions will incorporate biometric scanning in some way. Biometrics is now a crucial component of contemporary cybersecurity due to its simple implementation and better security. Additionally, this increased attention on biometrics has led to ongoing innovation in several different biometrics-related fields. New software and new AI have promoted various types of biometrics including facial or vocal recognition, fingerprint, or iris signature, handwriting recognition etc. While advanced biometric techniques and new fraud prevention forms fill the gaps for systems that demand higher security and reliability standards, biometric authentication methods are becoming more widespread across consumer and enterprise systems. Some future trends for biometric authentication include physical identity verification, continuous authentication, identity spoofing etc.
AI will boost safety and security in the foreseeable future
Even though AI has long been used in cybersecurity, many more applications in the future of technology will increase our digital safety. Additionally, it is widely utilised in cybersecurity, where it can be employed to power antivirus software, track down hackers using machine learning, or even develop novel methods of detecting cyberattacks via artificial intelligence in cybersecurity that hasn’t been thought of previously. AI looks to have a great future in cybersecurity because it can identify hazards more precisely and swiftly than humans can, block questionable activities automatically to prevent assaults, increase the network’s resistance to assaults, enhance the speed of the cyberattack recovery procedure and boost the overall general safety of digital systems.
TAKING MEASURES IN THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES
As businesses grow internationally, they strive for high customer satisfaction, which is essential to the success of any enterprise. Furthermore, we will need to continuously monitor the system and equip our infrastructure with the appropriate security controls. To ensure that no external threats are entering the environment, continuous security monitoring is advised, along with vulnerability assessment and penetration testing for the critical application. It’s critical to lessen reliance on suppliers. While interacting with the third party, we are failing to recognize how strong the security culture is there. Although technology cannot stop the attacks, it can help us focus our efforts more effectively.
Although it will be challenging, we must change in order to comply with regulatory and data privacy requirements. Cybersecurity is a journey rather than a one-time fix. Understanding that data security will be an ongoing process is important. To remain resilient in the future, we must adjust to the changing trends and changes and align with the best industry standards. The amount of data that customers are storing is astronomically large. Therefore, as organizations, we must carefully research the topic and comprehend the security precautions needed for the organization.
As Renu Bala, Associate Research Director at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions quotes “Cybersecurity has shifted from an optional service to an absolute necessity for all businesses. With businesses targeting online presence, it is imperative for them to move their data into the cloud. Continued work on the usage of emerging technologies such as Zero Threat Architecture, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud security etc along with setting up effective security standards in collaboration with agencies, governments, and businesses in addition to increasing end-user security awareness is going to be the focus area in the field of Cybersecurity in the foreseeable future.”
In Conclusion,
The tech world is growing rapidly and changing to such an extent it is causing businesses to change the way they handle cybersecurity. Cybercriminals, in this age of vigorous digital transformation, are constantly looking for ways to disrupt the systematic flow of organisations and cause harm to individuals and businesses in the process. No doubt, cybersecurity issues will continue to evolve alongside its prevention techniques. Prepping up your security game is the best decision one can take for their organisation and themselves.
Author
Sayeri Roy Content Writer at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions
