Cybersecurity is an ever changing landscape and Trend Micro knows that. In 2016, Trend Micro believes that the threats will evolve to rely more on mastering the psychology behind each scheme rather than mastering the technical aspects of the operation.
The first prediction that Trend Micro made is that online extortion will continue to grow in 2016. Cyber extortion is nothing new as consumers have been battling it in the form of fake antiviruses, Trojans, and the crypto-ransomware of today. For 2016, Trend Micro believes that there will be an increase in these threats in an attempt to extort money from users. Besides data, other things that users find valuable that are online could become targets as well. One of the examples given was the hacking of the infidelity website Ashley Madison, where the reputation of the users may be compromised.
For the second prediction, Trend Micro believes that enterprises and other large organizations will face their own reputation risks due to data breaches. The hacking incidents that affected Sony and the Hacking Team are examples of what might happen to other companies. Trend Micro suggests that hacktivists respond to incentives as well as anyone. Instead of merely defacing websites and/or carrying out denial-of-service (DOS) attacks, skilled hacktivists may be capable of much more severe damage like stealing a company’s most valued secrets and leaking them to the public. According to Trend Micro, these attacks that are carried out by hacktivists may differ from attacks committed by cybercriminals or even nation states, and need to be treated accordingly.
The last prediction made by Trend Micro is the most unnerving as the company predicts that attacks on consumer-grade smart devices will prove fatal, either directly or otherwise. As more and more devices and items are being connected to the internet, the security shortcomings become more apparent and problematic. Vulnerabilities are already known to exist in devices ranging from baby monitors, to cars, to gasoline pumps, and said vulnerabilities are rarely, if ever, fixed. This lack of urgency is expected to end in injuries – or worse, fatalities – to users due to the failure of smart devices.
