Skip to main content

My InfoTech Journal!

MyInfoTechJournal: Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: The Ultimate Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for Thriving in Any Situation (Part 3 of 3: EXAMPLE)

MyInfoTechJournal: Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste: The Ultimate Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for Thriving in Any Situation  (Part 3 of 3: EXAMPLE)

CyberSecurity Predictions for 2022 and Beyond

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.



Support My InfoTech Journal



Comments

POPULAR: My InfoTech Journal

Network Security: How to minimize the Risk of your Wireless Network

My InfoTech Journal: What you can do to minimize the risk of your wireless network? Access Points are usually targets for unauthorized access. You have to ensure that your access points are secured to prevent unauthorized access.  There are several ways of securing your wireless access points.  Here is a Security Tip from the US CISA. Change default password. Restrict access. Encrypt the data on your network. Protect your Service Set Identifier (SSID). Install a Firewall. Maintain Anti-Virus software.I Use file sharing with caution. Keep your access point software patched and up to date. Check your internet provider’s router or router manufacturers wireless security options. Connect Using Virtual Private Network (VPN). A more detailed discussion of this tip can be found in this post:   US CISA: Security Tip (ST 005-003) Securing Wireless Networks End Notes  US CISA: Security Tip Disclaimer   This article is a result of my personal research and is not a substitute for legal advise.  Ple

Information Security Tenets (The CIA Triad)

My InfoTech Journal:   Information Security Tenets The CIA Triad The   three tenets or fundamental principles of Information Security are  Confidentiality ,  Integrity , and  Availability .  This is also commonly known as the CIA Triad . The Information Security  programs refers to the controls designed and implemented to protect these three tenets:  Confidentiality ,  Integrity , and  Availability .   What is Confidentiality? Confidentiality ensures that private information remains private and that these private information can only be accessed or viewed by authorized individuals on need to know basis. Information Security controls must therefore be put in place to protect the data from unauthorized disclosure.  Examples of  Information Security controls  to ensure Data Confidentiality : Access Control List (ACL) Username and Password  Encryption  Two-Factor Authentication (Password, Token, PIN, Biometric, etc) What is Integrity? Integrity refers to the accuracy and completeness of t

How to Improve Employees’ CyberSecurity Awareness (From Weakest Link to Fist Line of Defence)

My InfoTech Journal: How to Improve Employees’ CyberSecurity Awareness (From Weakest Link to Fist Line of Defence) Your Employees may be the weakest link in the CyberSecurity chain,   BUT, You can train them to be part of your first line of defence.  Improving Employees’ CyrberSecurity know-how will depend greatly on your company’s CyberSecurity Awareness Program. This must be aimed to strengthen your first line of defence. There must be a CyberSecurity Awareness Program to ensure everyone is aligned with the company’s principles, policies and procedures. The CyberSecurity Awareness Program should promote everyone’s inclusion and a culture that CyberSecurity is everyone’s responsibility. The CyberSecurity Awareness Courses will also help everyone in the company to be in the same page against malicious attacks. The CyrberSecurity Training should be regularly deployed to the Employees. The CyberSecurity courses should be   designed to include training  Employees on the different human-ba

Information Security

My InfoTech Journal: Information Security Information Security is always a very interesting domain for discussion.  Over the years, Information Security has evolved as a domain that requires more and more stringent security controls in order to comply with growing compliance requirements and most importantly to protect corporate sensitive data, confidential, personal information, and other critical data. There are several Information Security Standards or Frameworks available in the industry to choose from.  But there is no one standard that can claim the title of being an all-in-one package solution. So if you are into Information Security compliance, you need to understand your organization to know what standards will best fit your compliance requirement.  In some cases, you will have to implement combinations of industry standards for your compliance governance program. Back in the days, I was involved in an outsourcing project as an Account Security Officer (ASO) for a large corpo

Introduction to SOX Compliance

 My InfoTech Journal:  Introduction to SOX Compliance  Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is defined as “An Act to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes.” 1 Sarbanes-Oxley Act  or more commonly known as  SOX , is a Federal Law which was enacted on 30-July-2002.  The Sarbanes-Oxley Act  was known in the US Senate as the “ Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act ” and known in the US House as the “ Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act ”. This law was enacted as a response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including Enron and WorldCom. 2 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act  defined “ A violation by any person of this Act, any rule or regulation of the Commission issued under this Act, or any rule of the Board shall be treated for all purposes in the same manner as a violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15

Network Security: How to Secure Your Network

My InfoTech Journal: Network Security  To set the context of this domain, I have here several definitions from different service providers. Network Security  refers to the practices of protecting computer network from intruders, including both wired and wireless connections. - US CISA Network Security  is any activity designed to protect the usability and integrity of your network and data. It includes both hardware and software technologies. Effective network security manages access to the network. It targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on your network. - Cisco Network Security  combines multiple layers of defenses at the edge and in the network. Each network security layer implements policies and controls. Authorized users gain access to network resources, but malicious actors are blocked from carrying out exploits and threats. - Cisco Network Security  are measures taken to protect a communications pathway from unauthorized access to, and accidenta

What is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

My InfoTech Journal:  General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) The  General Data Protection Regulation , also known as  GDPR  is regulation under the  European Union (EU) Law  that mandates data security and privacy.  The  General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR)  was passed by the European Parliament in 14-Apr-2016 and which became  effective on 25-May-2018.  The main objective of GDPR is to ensure that individuals under the European Economic Area (EEA) have control and rights over their personal information. The GDPR also aims to simplify the regulatory requirements for international business. GDPR Protection Principles  1 Lawfulness, fairness and transparency  —  Processing must be lawful, fair, and transparent to the data subject.  Purpose limitation   — You must process data for the legitimate purposes specified explicitly to the data subject when you collected it.  Data minimization   — You should collect and process only as much data as absolutely necessary for the purposes s

CyberSecurity Vulnerabilities in Control Systems

My InfoTech Journal:  CyberSecurity Vulnerabilities in Industrial Control Systems For this article, I will be presenting an overview of CyberSecurity Vulnerabilities, using the US   CyberSecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) guidelines for Industrial Control Systems . Please note that this US CISA CyberSecurity guideline is specific to Industrial Control Systems. Nonetheless the framework and line of thought can be used as reference for any other similar environment. CyberSecurity aims to protect sensitive information hosted in critical systems from different faces of evolving threats. Year-by-year business reports would publish the cost of data breaches globally in millions of US dollars. This includes losses in business revenues, cost of responding to the breach, cost of deciphering the extent of the data breach,  performing root cause analysis, and most of all the long term damage of the company reputation and brand. In order to protect your Control System’s risk and

My InfoTech Journal

 M My InfoTech Journal My InfoTech Journal will record the research that I have consolidated so that I can go back and use these articles for future reference. I will start with topics related to Information Security, Data Privacy, and expand to other domains with the objective of promoting knowledge sharing for those that may have the same research requirement. I will also share personal experiences that may be useful to the topics being presented. I hope that these research articles will be useful to others looking for references on the same topic. The Author: My InfoTech Journal  Support My InfoTech Journal