Cybercrime continues to increase, and cyber criminals are continuously changing their tactics. Just as the security industry seems to get on top of the latest cybercrime threat, a new, more sophisticated threat emerges. With ransomware dominating 2017 and cryptomining malware becoming popular with hackers throughout 2018, it seems e-crime is the latest trend in cybercrime to cripple 2019. This, of course, does no mean that ransomware and cryptoming as well as malware, phishing and hacking are not still plaguing organizations worldwide.
Here are three trends to watch out for in 2019
- E-crime
According to Cybereason: “E-crime is slowly shifting from a maximum hits paradigm to maximum accuracy. Some groups are getting very picky about their targets, they really try to pinpoint the right demographics.” Cybercrime is getting very personal. The driving force behind this is, unsurprisingly, money. It boils to a simple equation: stealing the right data + holding the right systems hostage for ransom = bigger profit that just going after the general population.
- Advanced phishing attacks
According to the Independent IT Security Institute, 4 new malware samples are generated every second. Phishing is still the most successful attack vector mostly as a result of its speed and agility. This is why most phishing sites only stay operation for approximately 5 hours. That’s how long it takes to get the job done. Further research indicated that only 17% of cybercrime (specifically phishing attacks) are reported as, strangely enough, it’s considered a low-risk activity. It is estimated that only 65% of all URLs today are trustworthy, the rest are phishing sites. This obviously strains consumers and organizations.
- Remote access attacks
Cybercrime in the form of remote attacks are increasing in number and becoming more sophisticated. Remote attacks include cryptojacking (which targets cryptocurrency owners) and attacks on perimeter devices such as computers, smartphones, IP cameras and NAS devices. Research shows that remote access attacks are one of the most common cybercrimes associated with a connected home.
The bottom-line is that no organization is immune to a phishing attack and no consumers is immune to scams involving identity theft that can cost them thousands of dollars. Cybercrime is an expensive business with the average costs of a data breach estimated at $1million per incident.
These very real threats can cause tremendous damage to individuals and organizations. But there are steps you can take to protect your data from cybercrime such as ransomware and to ensure you do not fall prey to cyber-attacks.
Contact us today for robust, multi-layered security products to combat next-gen malware, ransomware, and other enterprise threats.
