Cybersecurity challenges and trends for 2023
A new year is a good time to take stock, the same goes for gaining an understanding of the changes and updates in the world of cybersecurity. While this may not always feel like a pressing topic, in business, the best thing we can do is be prepared to meet challenges that we are likely to face head-on.
2023 brings with it the rise of many new technologies, artificial intelligence, and automated hacking. Mobile targeted cyber attacks but to name a few.
Here we will investigate these risks and trends set to most impact us in 2023 as well as strategies for protecting yourself from bad information or bogus software.
Top cybersecurity trends for 2023:
- Phishing scams are an exponentially growing and persistent risk and one that is still going to be top of the charts of cybersecurity concerns in 2023. This is a massive issue and a difficult one to fully protect against when you consider the many surfaces available for attack for any one user. However, the rise of password free systems may well see an acceleration this year as they provide the only consistent answer to stopping hackers gleaning information from you, actively in a fake form or passively by infiltrating your unsecured saved passwords. If password less systems aren’t possible in your technologies at present, you should consider a Two Factor Authenticated password vault.
- Globalisation of data protection laws is on the agenda of many multinationals and nation states dealing with vast resources invested in Data Protection and mitigations against huge data breaches. It is quite possible that we see policies take an increasingly global approach to data protection policy. Businesses have had to adapt fast or suffer the consequences of ignoring data protection. Staying up to date and getting proper, professional advice is key.
- The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the fastest rising challenges for 2023. A Gartner report says that by the end of the year there will be three times as many connected devices as humans using them, and by 2025 everyone with a connected device will make use of them on average every 18 seconds. Combined with the rise of remote working and hybrid working across various locations, the increased risk from connected devices is clear. Insecure Wi-Fi networks, (especially public ones), put users without suitable mobile device protections at risk of general malware infection or directed attacks. The adoption of IoT solutions in business locations, such as video conferencing tools and digital technologies employed for the use of physical security, like face scanners and voice recognition, also brings with it the consideration of adapting your cyber security measures to include these new technologies and devices. One other real issue here is cyber security awareness in staff, and the need for good policies in place for work related exchange of information and security.
- Artificial Intelligence poses one of the greatest challenges to cybersecurity, especially as companies transition to password free systems. One of the vulnerabilities we may see arise is the ability of Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning systems to circumvent the very security technologies they helped create. If artificial intelligence can fool facial recognition or fingerprint technology, we may see a rise in attacks on devices like mobile phones that use these security features.
- The rise of AI brings us neatly into a likely increase in mobile targeting. Much in the same way as the vulnerabilities of the IoT, the potential for artificial intelligence and machine learning programs to be able to work around certain security protocols used in mobile technology is of genuine concern. While we can’t fully predict these risks and their potential impact on business, it is sensible to assume hackers are aware many people manage business assets and sensitive data on mobile phones.
Further research and ways to protect yourself.
It is important to assess the risks and trends as they are in relation to your business. You may have many remote staff or it maybe you are on your own or working remotely with contracted staff or other businesses. Regardless of your organisational structure, there will be impacts on you and your cyber security from the trends and challenges covered. Here are some things to watch out for when doing further research and some ways to protect yourself against increased mobile surface targeting:
Firstly, it is important to mention that phishing scams and privacy trackers embedded within web pages for seemingly innocuous or even useful content are a vast global and growing problem. Bad actors use legitimate, often smaller sites and try to exploit vulnerabilities to replace legitimate content with malicious or irrelevant information. It is important to consider protecting your own site from this type of intrusion as well as the damage can be extensive and put you in serious breach of data protection laws if you are exposing vulnerable or financial details stored about your customers without having put proper protections in place.
Protecting yourself and staff from falling victim to other websites that may have been infected while browsing or researching sites you haven’t been to before is best done by building fail safes into your system level protection and you can do this by providing multiple layers of protection:
- Encrypting and password protecting sensitive documents and folders.
- Utilising privacy tracking software.
- Having an up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware program active.
- Using your computer’s firewall and blacklisting suspicious sites.
- Using an anti-virus and anti-malware browser protection add on or anti tracking browser.
In terms of mobile protection, you should, if you are not already, be using the same anti-virus, folder protection and multi factor authentication and biometric security features as possible.
If you or your staff are using their personal mobile phones to access work emails, you want to be sure that your information can’t fall into the wrong hands if the phone is lost. A suitable policy, password protections and most importantly, an email encryption solution can greatly help to mitigate these risks. Why not book a Demo with Pie Security and find out how our email encryption tool and data compliance assessments will help your business stay secure and meet European data privacy regulations in 2023.
