As BlackBerry’s Chief Security Officer, Alex Manea regularly speaks to Fortune 500 C-Suites and leaders representing the world’s top global brands, listening and learning about what security concerns keep them up at night. Alex also tries to spend just as much time speaking with security researchers – ethical hackers devoted to discovering security flaws and vulnerabilities.
Based on countless conversations over the past 12 months with customers, partners, government officials, Blackberry’s internal cybersecurity experts, and leaders from both the security and research communities, below are Alex’s trends for 2018.
#1: 2018 will be the worst year to date for cyberattacks
With 2017 being the worst year ever for cyberattacks, it is tempting to think that we have hit rock bottom, but what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg.
The fundamental issues that have caused the majority of recent cyberbreaches have not been resolved. IT departments are being tasked to manage increasingly complex networks, support new types of endpoints, and protect more and more sensitive data. Legacy systems are still rampant throughout most industries and cannot be easily upgraded or replaced. These systems often contain publicly known software vulnerabilities which can be exploited to penetrate the corporate network.
At the same time, attackers are getting increasingly sophisticated and have more incentives than ever to mount cyberattacks. From building ransomware or mounting DDoS attacks and demanding bitcoin payments, to working with organised crime and even national governments, malicious hackers have numerous ways to monetise their skills and to protect themselves.Governments and enterprises are recognising these new threats and deploying modern security solutions, but it will take years to decommission all of the legacy systems. 2018 will be yet another year where the shortcuts of the past come back to haunt us. More importantly, we need to start planning for the future by addressing the new threats posed by the Internet of Things (IoT), which go well beyond anything that we see in today’s cyberattacks…Click here to read full article.
