The decline of passwords, the rise of encryption and deepfakes -- cybersecurity predictions for 2020
It's the time of year again where the great and good of the tech sector like to consult the tea leaves, gaze into the crystal ball, read the runes -- and of course draw on their industry knowledge -- to give their predictions for the year ahead.
So, what do they think is in store for cybersecurity in 2020?
Financial services companies over confident about protecting data
Financial services business tend to be attacked more than those in any other sector, but a new study finds that 75 percent of respondents in this industry are over confident in their data management practices.
A worrying 24 percent of respondents to Integris Software's 2019 FinServ Data Privacy Maturity Study only update their personal data inventory once a year. Even more concerning, 13 percent only inventory sensitive data when audited or in response to regulation requests.
Few businesses use network segmentation to guard against breaches
Security segmentation limits the ability for attacks to move laterally inside an organization by breaking data center and campus networks or clouds into smaller segments. But a new study reveals that only 19 percent currently implement segmentation solutions today.
The study of 300 IT professionals carried out by Virtual Intelligence Briefing for Illumio also shows that while approximately 25 percent are actively planning a project, more than half are not protecting with segmentation at all or planning to in the next six months.
Why businesses need an omni-channel approach to protecting customer data [Q&A]
In the retail sector particularly the line between online and offline worlds is increasingly blurred. But how can businesses protect their customer data effectively in this world?
We spoke to, Gary Barnett, CEO of secure payment systems specialist Semafone to discuss this, the effect of the upcoming CCPA legislation and more.
Professionals skeptical about cybersecurity vendor claims
A new survey of almost 300 IT security professionals in large enterprises finds 53 percent of respondents say most or all cybersecurity vendors rely on unclear, opaque, and ambiguous data to promote their products.
In addition the study from Valimail, a provider of identity-based anti-phishing solutions, finds 42 percent of respondents say cybersecurity products deliver value 'sometimes,' but it is difficult or impossible to prove that value.
Secure cloud helps deliver data-driven innovation
Data usage and analysis are now key drivers of innovation and competitive advantage, but increased data use raises issues surrounding security, privacy and compliance.
Israeli company Satori Cyber is launching a new Secure Data Access Cloud to offer continuous visibility and control of data flows across all cloud and hybrid data stores.
DNS amplification attacks continue to grow
DNS amplification attacks have grown by over 4,000 percent over the last year according to Nexusguard's latest threat report.
DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) remains the main source of growth in DNS amplification attacks in the quarter, but Nexusguard analysts have also detected a sharp and concerning rise in TCP SYN Flood attacks.
Majority of leaked records in 2019 came from financial services firms
According to a new report, more than 60 percent of all leaked records in 2019 were exposed by financial services organizations, despite only six percent of breaches affecting these organizations.
The 2019 Financial Breach Report from Bitglass says these figures are at least partially due to the Capital One breach, which compromised more than 100 million records.
What Google's focus on web frameworks means for front-end development [Q&A]
If the recent Chrome Dev Summit was evidence of what Google thinks is hot in web development, then frameworks were one of the clear winners. More specifically, client-side frameworks and libraries like Angular, Vue and React, and larger web frameworks like Next.js.
We spoke to Tim Neutkens, lead developer of Next.js -- which Google mentioned in its talk on Advancing the Web Framework Ecosystem -- to learn more about the rise of front-end frameworks and their general promise to get web developers out of the infrastructure weeds and focus more on building websites and apps.
The top 20 passwords that you shouldn't be using
Despite data breaches involving stolen or cracked passwords constantly being in the news, it seems people are still making poor choices when it comes to their login credentials.
Password manager NordPass has compiled a list of the 200 most commonly used passwords of 2019 and highlighted the 20 you should never be using.
New account fraud up 28 percent in 2019
New account fraud -- attempts by an individual to create a new online account by manipulating a government-issued ID -- is up 28 percent this year according to a new report.
Data from trusted identity provider Jumio shows this type of fraud has increased over 100 percent on 2014 levels.
Enterprises increase their investment in machine learning
Machine learning development is still in its early stages in many enterprises but investment in the technology is on the increase according to a new report.
The report from Algorithmia shows 22 percent of respondents say their companies have been in production with machine learning for a year. However, 50 percent say they spend between eight and 90 days deploying a single machine learning model.
Vulnerability used in Equifax breach is top network attack in Q3 of 2019
Network security and intelligence company WatchGuard Technologies has released its internet security report for the third quarter of 2019 showing the most popular network attacks.
Apache Struts vulnerabilities -- including one used in the devastating Equifax data breach which tops the list -- appeared for the first time on WatchGuard's list. The report also highlights a major rise in zero day malware detections, increasing use of Microsoft Office exploits and legitimate penetration testing tools, and more.
Cloud migration and cyberattacks are top IT challenges for 2020
New data published by INAP at Gartner's IT Infrastructure, Operations and Cloud Strategies Conference in Las Vegas this week reveals the top challenges IT professionals expect to face in 2020.
Migrating applications to the cloud tops the list for 37 percent (up from 34 percent last year) while protecting against cyber attacks is in second place chosen by 31 percent (down from 36 percent).
Smart lock design flaw opens the door for attackers
An exploitable design flaw with a smart lock means attackers can easily overcome it and the lock's inability to receive updates means it can't easily be fixed.
Researchers at F-Secure found they were able to exploit poorly designed protocols in the KeyWe Smart Lock to intercept the secret passphrase that controls the lock as it's exchanged between the physical device and the mobile app.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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