Cyber security has been an issue the world has faced since the mid-1990s but unprecedented events such as a global pandemic have led to a significant uptick in the number and severity of cyber crimes in the last few years. Organisations have made rapid shifts to remote working and cloud technology, to navigate the impact of the pandemic, and malicious actors have moved to exploit these changes. It is predicted by 2025 the global costs of cyber crime will reach $10.5 trillion, as cyber security risks increase for organisations everywhere.
As the world returns to a more normal state of things, there are still a lot of challenges to be faced, as security threats are predicted to become more sophisticated and cause more damage. To understand what could be ahead for your organisation, we look at the top cyber security trends for 2022.
Third-party breaches
Cyber criminals use the less protected networks of third parties to gain access to connected primary targets. In 2021, malicious actors gained access data from nearly 215 million Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts via a third party called Socialarks. These third-party breaches are predicted to become even more problematic as organisations employ contractors and freelancers to fulfil work requirements that were previously handled by full-time employees. Most organisations allow external parties access to vital systems, which provides a potential route for threat actors to exploit.
Cloud vulnerability
Cloud security is currently the fastest-growing sector in the cybersecurity market. In the last few years, circumstances have led to more businesses adopting cloud computing as workforces shifted to remote working, and this trend will continue with the shift to hybrid workplaces. Data security is vital and security leaders will likely move to include zero trust cloud security architecture as a pillar of data protection. Zero trust systems became prevalent throughout 2021 and widespread adoption of this security measure will likely continue in 2022.
Ransomware attacks
Ransomware attacks are nothing new, but they’ve become increasingly more common in the last few years, with over 85% of UK organisations experiencing a successful attack, and 13% of those organisations end up paying the ransom, with an average cost of USD1.96 million. Ransomware is only becoming more sophisticated and convenient for cybercriminals, with the option now to subscribe to ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) providers, allowing users to access pre-developed ransomware tools which execute attacks in return for a cut of the ransom payments. RaaS means attacks will be more accessible for threat actors and increases the cybersecurity threats to all.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
With the pandemic shifting businesses away from the office and into the home, where the average person has access to nine connected devices. It isn’t surprising to learn that the attacks against IoT devices have increased 100%, with over 1.5 billion attacks in the first half of 2021. IoT are any devices that connect to and exchange information with other devices and systems over the internet. The average smart device is attacked within the first five minutes of connecting to the web and it is estimated homes with a wide range of IoT devices can have up to 12,000 hacking attempts in one week. With so many devices being connected to the internet now and into the future, it creates a wider attack area that malicious actors can exploit to breach both personal and company systems, with over 25% of all cyberattacks against organisations predicted to be through IoT devices by 2025.