INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security
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What we can expect from IT
security this year
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T
he last three years in IT innovation
have laid the foundation for
even greater changes within the
technology sphere. While some of these
changes will simply build on developments
in IoT, AI, smart industries and smart homes
as well as the cloud, others such as the
impending rollout of 5G in 2019 will herald
in even newer innovations and introduce
even greater security concerns.
This year is set to bring out the
cybercriminals in their droves as Brexit will
be finalised and a number of international
sporting events such as the 2019 Rugby
World Cup take place.
“We may not think that cyberattacks and the
Rugby World Cup are in anyway connected,
but they are,” said Indi Siriniwasa, Vice
President of Trend Micro, Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Cybercriminals use world events to disperse
fake news, which is particularly damaging
during political events and elections. One
way in which these are used as a tool by
cybercriminals is that major sports events
are often leveraged to send out emails with
malicious links, or to extort money from
their victims.”
According to Trend Micro, exploit kits were
widely used in 2018 to distribute malware,
however, there has also been an increased
return to the old tried-and-tested methods of
social engineering and phishing. This year is
likely to see a rise in SMS phishing as hackers
try to obtain banking and other personal
details from users. Notably, accounts used
for cloud storage and cloud services will also
be targeted in 2019.
Furthermore, chatbots are also most likely
to be used for phishing. Users have become
increasingly accustomed to making use
60
INTELLIGENTCIO
THE GOAL FOR THE
CYBERCRIMINAL
HERE IS TO SWAY
PUBLIC OPINION IN A
SPECIFIC DIRECTION.
of chatbot services that are hosted on
websites as a means of support. This
will make it easier for malicious actors
to use this method to extract personal
information or log in details from a user in
order to gain access to bank accounts or to
send the user malware.
“Looking ahead, we predict that we will
see an increase in hackers exploiting home
networks as a way into an enterprise
network,” added Siriniwasa.
the Brexit finalisation, we anticipate that we
will see an increase in this sphere.
“If hackers are increasingly going back to
basics, as it appears that they are, then so
must we as a security industry. We need
to look beyond the systems we deploy,
continue to place extensive emphasis on
the education of the end user, look at ways
in which we can deploy intrinsic security –
namely from the edge, through the network
and into the cloud, and ensure that our
security policies follow every user, every
connection and every device.
“If 2018 was anything to go by then 2019
is going to be exceptionally interesting for
all security professionals. As an industry we
need to be more vigilant in staying abreast
of nefarious activity and developing tools to
assist in stopping attacks, as end users you
are going to be required to secure more with
less. Ultimately, we have the tools to help but
we need to continually innovate in order to
stay one step ahead.” n
“With more companies adopting remote
working as an option for employees, we
anticipate that we will see more breaches
that come from unsecured home networks
as organisations don’t have visibility on the
threats that may affect staff at home.”
It is also predicted that business email
compromise (BEC) will continue to be
employed by cybercriminals, however,
targets will be managers a little lower down
in the hierarchy.
“As far as governments are concerned, the
battle against fake news will continue into
2019,” said Siriniwasa.
“The goal for the cybercriminal here is to sway
public opinion in a specific direction, and with
so many countries holding elections, as well as
Indi Siriniwasa, Vice President of Trend
Micro, Sub-Saharan Africa
www.intelligentcio.com