The predictions for 2018 that we shared last year seemed to land on the points of data protection and cyber security, while it strayed from others – most notably on the front of cryptocurrencies. BitCoin was a hot topic in 2017, surging to values that had people everywhere kicking themselves for not investing sooner. What unfolded after was an epidemic of articles predicting a global acceptance of cryptocurrencies. That balloon popped when the cryptocurrency market crashed in early 2018, and it seems that many have quietly reneged their cryptocurrency hype since.
Continuing the tradition, here are a few insights into the forecast for 2019:
Supply Chain Attacks. While these threats can occur in every sector of the economy as it pertains to supply chains, the industries that most commonly experience these attacks include pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, hospitality, entertainment, and media. Manufacturing operations are attractive targets to adversaries, due in part to having such a broad potential surface of attack. With increasing reliance on the supply chain, there is a wealth of information that could be obtained if organizations have not taken appropriate steps to secure themselves. For more information on cyber security in the supply chain, read our article here.
Further development of consumer privacy laws. Last year we saw the launch of the European Union’s GDPR, which marked the first big regulatory move toward protecting consumer information. Soon after, California passed a bill (Consumer Privacy Act of 2018) that seems to be the state’s version of GDPR – it is slated to go into effect at the end of 2019. A draft for a federal privacy bill for the United States may arrive early in 2019 after concerns over a number of privacy breaches.
Continuing adoption of artificial intelligence across wider society. From Alexa to politics, AI will continue to spread across industries and uses. Chinese companies have announced intentions to develop AI processing chips to avoid reliance on US-manufactured Intel and Nvidia. There is rising concern that AI technology could be increasingly used by authoritarian regimes for the purpose of restricting personal freedoms. As AI continues to spread its proverbial wings, we could see a move toward “transparent AI”, that is, an effort to gain consumer trust in the use of AI by being clear in how it uses human data and why. Of course there is always the worry that the rise of AI will create a jobless future for people, however Gartner suggests the opposite, that artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it will eliminate.
Big data breaches will push companies to tighten login security. We might see a concerted effort of the security industry to replace username/passwords altogether, pushing toward an alternative solution as an industry standard. Biometrics – for example facial recognition or fingerprint logins – are certainly on the rise.
Digital skimming will become more prevalent. The trick of card skimming has moved to the digital world, where attackers are going after websites that process payments. The growth of online shopping has made checkout pages attractive targets. British Airways and Ticketmaster were two high profile cases of this. The British Airways case was particularly alarming, as airlines in general have access to a wide breadth of information ranging from birthdates, passport details, payment information and more. Although the airline was able to confirm that no travel data was stolen in the attack, it nonetheless remains as a cautionary tale.
This article was written by Kristina Weber. For more content like this, be sure to subscribe to Centry Blog for bi-weekly articles related to the security industry. Follow us on Twitter @CentryLTD and @CentryCyber!
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