2017 has been a big year concerning cyber security, positively and negatively. The rise of Ransomware into the mainstream news with global attacks on businesses and record numbers of data breaches such as Yahoo having one billion accounts accessed by hackers. IT security is one of the fastest moving industries, and it's vital that every business tries to keep up and stay protected.
These are Aabyss's predictions of what we could see in 2018:
- GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation will come into effect within the EU on the 25th May 2018. The law aims to give citizens more control over their data and to create uniformity of rules to enforce across the continent. It will affect any business holding personal data on customers, prospects or employees based within the EU. Any business not found in accordance with this law can be fined up to £20m or 4% global turnover.
Soon after the law has come into effect, we are likely to see a country make an example of a company who fails to comply and set the precedent that it will be unacceptable to not implement the proper procedures.
On a positive note, we think that we will see a worldwide increase of GDPR-style regulations as more countries decide to take data protection seriously. The EU will hopefully be a trendsetter in seeing global data privacy laws into place.
- Ransomware
Ransomware attacks have become prolific in 2017, and we expect this to continue into the new year and beyond. Cybersecurity experts at London Met police believe ransomware will still be one of the biggest threats facing the public sector next year, especially after the 'WannaCry' attack in May 2017.
Traditionally ransomware has hit Windows operating systems; however, Android and MacOS attacks are slowly on the rise with 2018 set to see the most non-Windows attacks we have ever seen before. With the internet giving attackers open access to information they can easily find out that the healthcare industry is the most targeted industry for ransomware; it is no coincidence that this is also the industry most likely to pay ransoms. Sophos Labs have produced a report about how they think ransomware will play out in 2018.
- IoT
The internet of things will see a categoric rise in 2018, products such as smart door locks and Bluetooth trackers to make sure you don't lose valuables all seem new and exciting but they are a great risk to any business who uses them. These devices that connect to WiFi and rely on the internet are becoming an easy way into a business for attackers without executives even realising.
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