3 Trends in Cybersecurity that you need to know for 2018
3 Trends in Cybersecurity that you need to know for 2018
The world of cybersecurity is an ever-changing domain. New threats appearing on a daily basis and attackers are continuously evolving their techniques. Keeping up with the threats can be a difficult task. Cybersecurity continues to be a growing priority for organisations of all sizes and across all industries.
2017 was the year that brought us the biggest ransomware outbreak in history (WannaCry) and a data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly half the United States’ population. In addition to this outbreak, the beginning of 2018 coincided with the disclosure of the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities, which put every operating system and device on the planet at risk.
While risks and threats are on a steady increase, the good news for IT and security professionals is that the challenges we’re confronted with can be solved. A crucial part of managing this effectively is staying on top of the current threats. Here are three trends that provide some background into how cybersecurity is changing:
- File-less attacks
There has been an apparent shift from using malicious .exe files to deploy malware. This indicates a massive change in the way attacks are carried out and poses a problem for traditional antivirus security solutions that rely heavily on analysing executable files in order to make detections.
- Faith in antivirus solutions lost
Society’s general faith in traditional, basic security solutions such as antivirus has in fact been in declining. The majority of organisations do not believe their antivirus can stop the threats they’re seeing. As a result, many organisations have made moves to boost their antivirus installations with an additional layer of advanced protection, while others have invested in endpoint detection in the hope of alleviating any possible damage that attacks may have caused.
- Security is expensive and difficult to maintain
Most online users struggle to maintain the cost of managing their online security. In order to respond to new threats and provide more advanced protection beyond file analysis, some traditional and next-generation cyber security vendors have begun offering supplemental add-ons and additional features. Be warned though that the hidden costs of endpoint protection can be heavy on the pocket if you’re not up to speed with what is really necessary.
It’s clear that additional up-front security spending is well worth it if it adequately reduces risks. The sorts of threats organisations need to be prepared for are constantly changing. Online users need to also adapt their security efforts accordingly and make sure that they’re properly equipped to combat the infections that are becoming increasingly deceptive and destructive.
