Top 5 Emerging Cyber Security Challenges of 2020

By: Mr. Zakir Hussain, Director, BD Software Distribution

In this era of digitisation when hackers are getting smarter every day, your online security tools too need to play a smarter role. Every day we read news about threats like ransomware, phishing, vulnerability exploits, IoT based attacks etc. With the help of digitisation, everything is connected and vulnerable at the same time. Amid Covid19, lets understand the key Cyber security challenges of 2020.

Data breaches
Work from home poses serious questions about online security, particularly around how a company’s data is protected with so many people accessing shared IT systems from different locations. One of the most popular risk during the Covid period includes ‘Data breach’. To avoid data breach one should always carry out a security check before using the many freely available social media platforms and ensure that security settings you are using are up to date. One should always remember to use complex passwords that are different on all platforms, using a password manager to assist you. Home workers dealing with personal data for which their organisations are responsible must remember to maintain privacy. Work files, email and databases should not be used where visible to family members or housemates, or left open and unattended. Work computers such as laptops should never be used by family members or for non-work purposes. This way users can save themselves from Data breaches

Artificial Intelligence acts a parallel in cyber-attack & in prevention
Owing to the lockdown imposed by the pandemic, each and every sector in the world transitioned to the virtual platforms to remain afloat. Along with the adoption of a wide variety of digital tools, organisations also started integrating the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to enhance the consumer journey as well as automate various manual and basic operations.

While AI was gaining popularity among businesses, many cyber criminals also started to strategise sophisticated cyber attacks using AI and ML in the form of complex and adaptive malicious software. Although it’s a boon for many, this advanced technology is also capable of creating negative disruptions – allowing hackers to easily inject bad data into an AI program, and use it to trick people into giving up their personal or financial information or compromising the data security of many organisations at once, resulting in a massive, automated cyber attack.

On the other hand, AI & Machine Learning enabled security can also prove to be one of the best cyber hygiene practices, enabling its programs to learn and analyse the patterns of the attacks, and prevent future attacks or breaches by predicting any suspicious behaviour.

Building a cloud security architecture and strategy
Moving to the cloud is more than a “lift-and-shift” effort when it comes to security. What worked for on-premise assets will likely not work in the cloud. Information security executives should develop clear security strategies that align with business objectives and ensure that their threat models are up to date. Automating these processes with a cloud management platform can take the place of time-consuming manual work and eliminate vulnerabilities with the push of a button.

Ransomware Threats
With the onset of the pandemic, remote working became the norm. The population shifted to work from home mode with limited resources, which included lack of proper cyber security. Although many organisations followed cyber security practices at the work place, in the new normal, the personal devices and systems of people were left highly vulnerable to cyber threats, without a damage control plan in place. Taking advantage of the unguarded systems and the fear created by the pandemic, hackers have started to deploy technologies to attack the database of individuals or organization and hold or freeze all of the information until ransom is paid. The targets of such attacks often include government bodies, organisations and high-net-worth individuals.

Internet Of Things (IoT)
In this age of digital transformation and globalization, cybercriminals are constantly looking for fresh exploits and coming up with advanced strategies to damage institutions and organizations. In light of this fact, businesses should be mindful of not just the ever-growing number of vulnerabilities but also of the cybersecurity threats that are in store. The only way to protect what you’ve worked hard to build is to be vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity.