This new year has a scope for a lot of opportunities in terms of growth and technological advancements. Given the predictions of how the future will progress, there will also be a constant challenge in securing them. We all understand that positive growth also welcomes the evil intentions of malicious attackers trying to evade the security perimeters. Thus, the new year 2022 is full of challenges faced by people in cybersecurity to make sure that new technologies are launched securely. Let’s talk more about cybersecurity in 2022.
Cyber Security in 2022
Cybersecurity in 2022 is an article that talks about different threats and risks where there has been significant growth and what more can persist in the coming year. Besides this, let’s also talk about general challenges in security.
Advanced stealers, trojans, and malware
This year can see a growth in Linux based malware. However, malicious hackers are constantly releasing new variants of existing malware. They include advanced functions to evade detections through anti-virus and at the same time persistently steal information such as cookies, passwords, and logs.
Exploiting common frameworks
Often, one vulnerability in a framework is targeted by the hackers to access different infrastructures that deploy it. These attacks occur due to unpatched issues and irregular software upgrades. This can be especially dangerous given that multiple brands can be affected with no prior preparedness.
For example, WordPress plugins are commonly deployed across specific types of websites, and they all can be at risk if any one of these plugins has an unknown vulnerability.
Ransomware activities
There has been significant growth in ransomware activities, where the ransomware groups have extorted money against the encrypted data. Organizations have faced a lot of ransomware activities, and there has been a significant rise in newly emerging groups. More groups imply more targets and more sophisticated ways to infiltrate a company’s network.
Thus, cybersecurity in 2022 may involve researchers trying to defend their companies from ransomware groups actively.
Payment and banking frauds through phishing
Phishing isn’t alien to us. But, yes, there are new techniques of phishing that led to a wave of phishing attacks we have seen in pandemic times. Malicious attackers have developed sophisticated phishing through malicious links and attachments, and they mostly contain stealer malware that logs this information and sends it back to the attackers. Especially while banking online, these techniques steal OTPs, passwords, and session logs.
Installing malicious applications containing spyware
People often find the ‘free’ way to premium things and get their devices infected with spyware. Also, anything installed through unknown resources contains such malware that can harm your device- causing crashing through viruses or session logging through spyware. Thus one needs to be careful while executing the applications downloaded from any third-party resource.
Social Engineering
We have had that one call from someone pretending to be from a company and trying to ask for personal information. Yes, that is a well-known threat in cybersecurity called social engineering. Hackers are constantly checking for phone numbers online and getting as much information on the internet.
Further, there are also tutorials available on how to master the skill of social engineering. One phone from an unknown number and victims may lose their money or end up giving their sensitive information such as account credentials. Mostly, the older people or technically less educated people are the common targets for social engineers.
Common password issues
This issue has persisted and will persist as a significant threat in 2022. Researchers often advise implementing strong passwords and refrain from reusing them anywhere else. But attackers can often make a master list of all the probable passwords based on little or more information about you on the internet. Due to a weak password policy, one of the mentions in the list often hits correctly, and they’re inside your account to exploit more!
Cybersecurity in 2022- General challenges
Besides the common vectors that the malicious attackers can exploit, some general flaws need to be addressed in 2022.
Skills and inadequacy of talent
There is a lack of talent in cybersecurity to implement strong defense against threats. Only a handful of skilled people are there, and companies face issues in recruiting strong candidates.
Industry-specific security
While various companies provide services in securing an organization’s infrastructure, one plan doesn’t suit them all. Thus, some custom and tailored services need to be implemented for robust detection mechanisms.
Awareness among the ordinary people
There is less awareness among people on basic things that can prevent cyber fraud. So hackers have more victims to target. Some primary education can enormously improve cyber literacy and keep people safe from cyber attacks.
Tips to stay secure from different attacks.
- Stay away from freebies.
- Check for every attachment received in emails for any malicious embedded executables. One can use VirusTotal for the same.
- Be careful of whom you give your details to. Never share the passwords, OTPs, and login credentials.
- This might sound like an expensive option, but better be safe than sorry. Get premium virus checkers on endpoint devices and regularly scan for malicious activities on devices.
- Implement a firm password policy across all your accounts, including multi-factor authentication. Do not reuse the passwords.
Towards the conclusion
As we conclude on the topic of Cybersecurity in 2022, we hope that it is understood that cyber threats are growing as rapidly as innovations. Thus, one can always make sure to keep themselves safe in cyberspace. With this new year, let’s all be aware and try to minimize the attackers’ impact on businesses and individuals. Do let us know what you think in the comments!
Author Bio: This article has been written by Rishika Desai, B.Tech Computer Engineering graduate with 9.57 CGPA from Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), Pune. Currently works as Threat Intelligence Researcher in CloudSEK. She is a good dancer, poet and a writer. Animal love engulfs her heart and content writing comprises her present. You can follow Rishika on Twitter at @ich_rish99.