Technology is evolving rapidly and changing the way companies work. New technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and the Internet of Things (IoT) offer companies unprecedented opportunities to unlock new values.
However, this value cannot be guaranteed. As technology evolves, the cyber threat and attack landscape that businesses must navigate is changing. In fact, the cyber threat is estimated to slow the pace of technological innovation worldwide by nearly $ 3 trillion in economic depreciation in 2020.
The lack of trained security personnel, complex compliance requirements, ever-evolving cyber-attacks, and dangerous cyber threats remain the top cybersecurity challenges in 2021 cybersecurity predictions.
Cyber Attack Statistics
This year, tackling the coronavirus pandemic remains the biggest challenge facing global security organizations. It is no surprise that the volume and complexity of data breaches increased in 2020, with security breaches increasing by 273% in the first quarter compared to 2019.
Even more shocking is that in 2020 a single hacker stole 34 million user records from seventeen companies. As companies plan to move to a new standard in 2021 and beyond, we have prepared key cybersecurity trends that every security team needs to know to navigate the crisis.
Top Cybersecurity Predictions and Trends for 2021
1. AI integration
As cyber-attacks become more intense and frequent, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to help underfunded security teams stay one step ahead of threats.
By analyzing large amounts of risk data from structured and unstructured resources, artificial intelligence provides threat intelligence. It also reduces the time it takes the security team to make critical decisions and respond to corrective actions.
2. Cloud threats
Cloud threats are one of the top cybersecurity predictions and trends for 2021. As the remote work and online collaboration had increased during the coronavirus pandemic, the cloud threat became an ally for businesses to ensure business continuity. Although global companies migrated to the cloud before the crisis, the pandemic acted as a catalyst for this.
However, the rapid migration to the cloud is expected to bring a host of new security threats and challenges. Cloud-based security threats, including poorly configured cloud storage, limited visibility and control, incomplete data erasure, and vulnerable cloud applications, will continue to disrupt businesses.
3. Advanced Detection and Response (XDR)
As data breaches escalate, security teams are in a rush to gain visibility into corporate and customer data across email, endpoints, networks, servers, and workloads in the cloud and applications.
Extended Detection and Response (XDR) is gaining momentum as it automatically collects and correlates data from multiple endpoints. The goal is to enable faster threat detection and incident response. For example, a cyber-incident that caused alerts on a server, network, and application can be combined and correlated to provide visibility and context of the incident.
4. Rise of CSOs at the company level
In recent years, cybersecurity incidents, threats, and vulnerabilities beyond traditional corporate IT systems have exploded. This has prompted companies to rethink their security postures in cyber and physical environments.
Cyber incidents such as Siege ware attacks on infrastructure management systems, growing vulnerabilities in OT / OT systems, and GPS spoofing attacks continue to challenge the cyber-physical world. Companies that have relied on the IT security-centric approach have therefore not been able to control the impact of security risks on physical security.
As a result, companies implementing cyber-physical systems are ready to deploy Chief Security Officers (CSOs) to work with multiple security-oriented silos. CSO can integrate physical security, IT security, OT security, product management security, and supply chain security into one central governance model.
5. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)
The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a culture of remote working, cloud adoption, and online collaboration. This trend will only increase in the future.
Consequently, enterprise network security is shifting from LAN-based appliance models to cloud-native security service models. These include Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). With SASE technology, organizations can robustly secure remote workers and cloud applications by routing the network traffic through a cloud-based security stack.
6. Automation of security processes
The lack of experienced security personnel is likely to lead companies to increasingly rely on the automation of security processes. Security automation tools eliminate repetitive security operations by automating them based on established rules and procedures. This means that security tasks can be carried out quickly, efficiently, and with fewer errors.
7. Phishing
There is no avoiding the fact that homeworkers are more vulnerable to cyber threats than employees who work in an organization that is protected by office cybersecurity systems. This makes phishing one of the 2021 cybersecurity predictions and trends and that means cybercriminals will continue to exploit this vulnerability by all means. In addition to phishing attacks, executives of large organizations, including charities, are vulnerable to spear-phishing attacks.
There are phishing emails that are specifically tailored to the data subject and use real information that cybercriminals have gathered after many hours of research, so it may come from someone known to the recipient.
To mitigate the threat, potential victims of spear phishing should receive regular additional training to remind them how to avoid becoming a victim.
8. Internal threats
The unprecedented shift to remote working has left global organizations unable to monitor or identify insider threats due to unauthorized remote access, weak passwords, insecure networks, and security. Improper use of personal devices. These trends are expected not only to continue but to increase in 2021 and beyond.
A recent study shows that breaches are poised to increase by 8% in 2021 and account for 33% of all cybersecurity incidents.
Final thoughts
As cybersecurity trends keep emerging, organizations must adopt a proactive IT security posture, rather than a reactive one, to keep business secure. However, the far-reaching tentacles of cyber threats, cyber-attack, and evolving threats will make it hard for organizations to effectively focus on their core business objectives while ensuring security. This is why businesses must be well vigilant, and more collaborative with security experts so as to secure their critical assets.
Do you think of any other trend or prediction we could add? Please comment below and feel free to share this article around! We wish you happy and safe in 2021!