Big & Worrying Telecoms Security Biz
The numbers are indeed worrying. A recent report put forth by Cybersecurity Ventures says that the worldwide expenditure on cybersecurity is estimated to go beyond $1 trillion from 2017 to 2021. A dramatic rise in cybercrime is already underway and more such cases are expected to show up in the coming times, be it the much talked about ransomware epidemic, malware going beyond PCs to enter laptops to smartphones and mobile devices, unprotected IoT devices, hackers-for hire and new forms of attacks launching themselves on consumers, businesses, governments, institutions and beyond. This is not surprising if we take into account the report released by Juniper Research. The report says that cybercrime will cost businesses over $2 trillion by 2019.
Let’s take the telecommunication sector as an instance. As guardians of networks, carriers play a crucial role in mitigating new threats that are rearing their ugly heads. With time, customers will ask for more proactive protection from the entire internet ecosystem or value chain. Carriers will be expected to support these customer demands with a whole array of technical and operational innovations. If they can take care of the solution delivery part, carriers will see the desire for greater security, a boon of sorts.
While in 2016, we saw a multitude of instances, including spoofs, ransomware, phishing, and IoT-based DDoS attacks, 2017 brings forth a host of new trends. The cybercrime landscape in India has been witness to a series of breaches off late, be it the hacking of Government agencies websites, the ATM hack that percolated down from the Himachal as well as the myriads of credit and debit card frauds, post the Digital India drive.
Let us take a closer look at some of the trends that we forecast for 2017:
Threats will become more automated: Malware will be designed as bots, for example, chatbots. Such bots will be able to easily adapt and function independently using artificial intelligence and machine learning to usher in new and innovative cyber-attacks. Such bots will easily pretend as humans. Malware will be able to make complex decisions and use analysis and intelligent prediction techniques to detect potential threats, based on the environment.
As IoT usage becomes more commonplace, threats will multiply manifold. Gartner predicts that more than 20 billion IoT devices are projected to be connected by 2020. Cybercrime will be a major challenge with such proportions in the fore.
Although cloud providers are introducing multiple layers of security, cyber attackers are focusing on client-end exploits, like targeting endpoint devices and networks.
IoT A boon for cybercriminals: Cloud computing risks:
As cities go smarter by embracing more and more technology along the way, they will become increasingly prone to cyber-attacks. From intelligent transportation and traffic controls to interconnected building automation and IoT supported buildings, such technological breakthroughs are opening up new vulnerabilities. Hackers may take advantage of the trend and encrypt information demanding ransom in return.
Smart cities are the new target: Increased instances of ransomware attacks:
Traditionally, financial services,