With digital adoption accelerating faster than ever, cybersecurity threats and risks are growing equally fast. As we look ahead to 2022, we’re expecting new and evolving cybersecurity threats on the horizon for various sectors.
2022 will be the year of integrating better cybersecurity practices and building greater resiliency to these attacks in all aspects of business operations. Organizations of all levels need to review how they will respond to large-scale sophisticated threats. To continue building on the efforts of 2021, CISOs will need to address how they plan to implement innovation into their organization without creating vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks.
Related: Beginner’s Guide to Cybersecurity Risk Management
These are the five biggest cybersecurity threats to anticipate in 2022:
5G adoption is gaining momentum across the world. Over the next year, even more organizations will begin investing in 5G technology to reap the benefits of greater connectivity capabilities. This 5G adoption will enable organizations to create new value from their existing network assets, putting their companies on the roadmap for digital transformation.
However, implementing 5G comes with complexities and challenges. It’s a technology that is quickly accelerating the growth of the IoT, and threat actors can begin taking advantage of vulnerable connections like smart devices to infiltrate an organization’s network infrastructure.
Organizations that are beginning to implement 5G networks need to ensure they’re protected against the associated risks. Otherwise, they’ll face losing out on the benefits that come with the connected future.
Cyber attackers commonly use various lateral movement techniques to infiltrate organizations’ networks after launching an attack. This year, we saw REvil (a ransomware-as-a-service group) leverage Kaseya’s remote control software and network management in a ransomware attack. That attack not only affected Kaseya but also its customers and end-users.
Attacks on that scale are particularly harmful because they can link to multiple ecosystems within an organization. Throughout 2022, cyber attackers will likely increase the use of the lateral movement concept. They will use it to gain access to internal networks and apply it to entire partner networks by using misconfigured APIs. This strategy enables hackers to not only gain access to an organization’s network but to its extended ecosystem as well.
For many organizations and their employees, cloud services have quickly become a way of life. Many tools and programs they use daily utilize the cloud, but not all cloud services offer proper encryption and authentication to keep data secure. It’s essential, before transitioning to the cloud, to ensure that the service has robust security measures as part of its framework. Another way to avoid these vulnerabilities is by creating strict policies regarding data retention. Cloud services are valuable (and often necessary) tools, but organizations need to take the right precautions.
Here’s to learn how to build a robust and effective cloud security architecture for your organization.
Phishing scams have been around for a long time, but they’re becoming more sophisticated and a more common occurrence. While organizations have increased their training and awareness programs for staff, it may not be enough. Attackers are evolving their phishing strategies to make their attempts look more authentic.
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In 2022, we’re going to see phishing tactics take an even more sophisticated form. Rather than rely on their usual strategies, attacks will likely develop their approach in a way that leverages more personalized and customized attacks based on the massive amounts of info they can gain from social media outlets. These enhanced phishing attacks will be more difficult to distinguish from genuine communications.
Because digital transformation has been such a huge priority for businesses over the past few years (a trend that’s not slowing down), cybersecurity threats continue to rise. Recently, part of this transformation has included organizations adopting a hybrid work approach, which is a trend that will likely continue into 2022 and beyond as they continue to explore work-from-home scenarios.
This hybrid work approach can deliver more productivity for employers, but SOCs need to understand the security risks and vulnerabilities that it can expose those employers to. Many European organizations have already increased their zero trust budgets this year, and we predict this adoption trend will extend across many private companies and governments in 2022 to counteract the growing threat landscape.
The zero trust principle entails a fundamental approach of trusting nothing on or off your network, and it deploys an “assume breach” mindset. With more and more organizations unifying their approach to addressing cybersecurity risks, the zero-trust adoption can provide better visibility to improve their overall security posture.
Security teams need to pay close attention to the upcoming trends and challenges facing cybersecurity in the coming year. It’s essential not just to survive but to thrive in the changing cybersecurity landscape.
In 2022, the cybersecurity sector should expect to see a growth of complexities, and organizations must properly prepare to stay ahead of the new risks. To tackle the coming cybersecurity threats, organizations need to take their key learning from 2021 and start building new flexibility and adaptability into their security processes
At IARM Information Security, we offer specialized services and custom solutions to help prevent your organization from cyber-attacks. Is your cybersecurity team ready for the challenges 2022 will bring?
Get in touch and find out
