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My InfoTech Journal:CyberSecurity Predictions for 2022 and Beyond
Today’s post will focus on the latest report released by Mandiant titled “14 CyberSecurity Predictions for 2022 and Beyond”.
Mandiant identified 14 predictions which are focused on seven main CyberSecurity threat areas:
1. Ransomware and multifaceted extortion in the spotlight
2. Outlook on major nation-state actors: The Big Four
3. Events in the Afghanistan trigger espionage and information operations
4. Deepfakes: Not just for information operations
5. Cyber outsourcing increases velocity and impact of malicious operations
6. Cloud and Third Parties introduce new chokepoints
7. More internet of things devices, more vulnerabilities, more attacks
14 CyberSecurity Predictions for 2022 and Beyond
Here’s a snapshot of the 14 CyberSecurity Predictions for 2022 and Beyond
Ransomware and multifaceted extortion in the spotlight
1. No End in Sight: Increased Frequency and Expanding Tactics
The Ransomware Threat will continue to be a major cybersecurity threat. Cybercriminals are also becoming more business savvy and showing intense judgment by targeting critical industries with significant impact on civilian services. This forces affected organizations to pay up with urgency to avoid significant impact on the wellbeing of its customers. Cybercriminals will find creative ways to extort more money from victims and therefore it is expected that frequency in cyberattacks using ransomware will continue to increase. Expansion for CyberSecurity attacks is expected to shift to countries outside of the U.S. where Cybercriminals are not governed by the U.S. laws.
2. No Honor Among Thieves: More Disputes Between Threat Actors
As the ransomware extortion becomes more and more lucrative to ransom-as-a-service actors, disputes between these actors with respect to fees will have more impact on victims. An example for this scenario is an organization paying millions of dollars or more just to prevent their data and sensitive information from being published publicly. But if there comes a situation where there is a dispute in payments from these ransom-as-a-service actors, then the data can be publicly published by one of the actors who may have felt shortchanged in the proceeds.
3. Organizations Caught between U.S. Government and Ransomware Actors
The U.S. government is steadfast on its policy of not allowing to pay sanctioned threat actors or groups or individuals in the U.S. Department of Treasury “No-Pay List”. This puts the affected organizations in a very difficult situation of keeping their business and reputation. A holistic approach has to be implemented to protect both the organizations and the end-users caught in between.
4. Cyber Physical Systems Increasing Under Threat from “n00bs”
This area is focused on critical systems in the Operational Technology space. Most of these systems are critical to an organization’s infrastructure but are not well built in cybersecurity controls off the box. Attacks on these critical systems have greater risks to attacks to inflict service disruptions and even threats on human lives. These adverse effect on human lives puts greater pressure on organizations to pay a ransom.
5. More Public Breaches in the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) Region
The Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) Region is becoming a target for public breaches because many of the organisations in this region does not take these threats seriously or mostly are not experienced in this area.
Outlook on major nation-state actors: The Big Four
6. Russia
The report has noted that Russia will maintain an aggressive posture and have the capability to have widespread impact.
7. Iran
Iran will be more aggressive and has the willingness to use destructive malware targeting mostly within the region like Israel and the Middle East.
8. China
China will continue to be very aggressive using cyber espionage.
9. North Korea
North Korea is willing to take a lot more risks and is expect to flex its cyber capabilities.
10. Events in the Afghanistan trigger espionage and information operations
With the departure of the U.S. forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s assertion of control, it is expected that cyber espionage and information operations will push further.
11. Deepfakes: Not just for information operations
As deepfake technology becomes more mature and widely available, it is expected that threat actors like cybercriminals will continue to enhance their tools and integrate media capabilities to make social engineering more convincing. Targets will also be more specific.
12. Cyber outsourcing increases velocity and impact of malicious operations
Cyber outsourcing in malicious operations has been increasing and the complexity of the cyber threat activities have continued to widen. This is a signal to cyber defenders that there will be an overall increase in cyber security risks and the frequency attacks will be increasing as well.
13. Cloud and Third Parties introduce new chokepoints
Organizations will continue to migrate to cloud solutions and will rely heavily on the Cloud Service Providers to maintain both security and availability of information and services. It is therefore predicted that organizations who subscribed to these cloud services will be more vulnerable to compromises.
14. More internet of things devices, more vulnerabilities, more attacks
The Internet of Things (IoT) will continue to be pushed and will grow even further. These devices are inexpensive and built without the best cybersecurity controls in mind. These devices will introduce a number of vulnerabilities into your infrastructure if no proper security controls are implemented to keep these devices patched for vulnerabilities. As these devices are connected to your network, the impact of an attack will have potentially greater impact.
Read the Full Report:
14 CyberSecurity Predictions for 2022 and Beyond
End Notes
Disclaimer
This blog is a result of my personal research and is not a substitute for legal advise.
Please consult your Legal Team, Ethics & Compliance, or Regulatory Team for the interpretation of specific CyberSecurity requirements.
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