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Unexpected events in 2020 make it difficult to predict the future in the field of cybersecurity. Although many experts make predictions for 2021, it is still a mystery what the next year will bring. Office and working life as we know it now gave way to working remotely. That’s why all companies are taking steps to keep up with this new order. The digital transformation that started in companies last year seems to continue at the same pace this year. Cybersecurity is one of the most important pillars of this digital transformation. Companies need to follow current cybersecurity trends to make their cybersecurity adaptations. Let’s take a look at the upcoming cybersecurity trends of 2021 together.

Upcoming Cybersecurity Trends of 2021

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. Especially for employees and companies trying to adapt to working conditions during the coronavirus period. Companies need to be very careful not to repeat the mistakes they made in cybersecurity in 2020. This is exactly why, in this article, we will talk about what awaits us in 2021, tell you about cybersecurity trends, and offer you a few anti-phishing methods.

What are the Upcoming Cyber ​​Security Trends of 2021?

1. Intellectual property attacks

In 2020, hackers aimed to obtain the health records of their victims in most phishing attacks. Therefore, an increase in phishing attacks against the health sector has been observed. The COVID-19 vaccine news was among the most used methods, especially in phishing e-mails. Also, intellectual property attacks on vaccine research have increased significantly. A Russian hacker group even staged phishing attacks against research centers in the UK, the US, and Canada intending to steal vaccine developments.

Hackers quickly made a lot of money in these vaccine-related or healthcare attacks last year. That’s why we expect hackers and hacker groups to increase their attacks on intellectual property in 2021.

2. IoT Attacks

As we all know, the Internet of Things is one of the most targeted areas for hackers. This trend seems to continue for many more years. Today, IoT is used frequently and in every field by both consumers and companies. But our knowledge of IoT security is minimal. The importance of IoT security has increased, especially with the transition to remote operation during the epidemic period. Employees who make the mistake of using their personal devices while working from home are causing many companies to have a hard time.

According to researches, there are 11 different internet-enabled devices in each employee’s home during the remote working period. Hackers can infiltrate home networks and breach our systems through these tools. Moreover, if the employee uses the work device connected to the home network, the hacker can infiltrate the corporate network. Therefore, 2020 has been a year where we frequently encountered IOT-focused attacks. Considering that working from home will continue in 2021, these attacks do not seem to slow down.

3. Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware attacks have increased more than expected in recent years. In particular, almost 40 percent of the attacks that took place in 2020 were ransomware attacks. The increase in such phishing attacks is expected to continue exponentially in 2021.

A ransomware attack recently compromised a famous IT company’s network. In the phishing attack, hackers placed passwords on the company’s systems and blocked their systems’ access. During this period, the company was planning to move its systems and desktop infrastructures offline. In this way, he could easily continue his work remotely during the coronavirus period. After the incident, several worried customers disconnected from IT companies, causing projects to be suspended. The attack caused a boom in the company; the company had to pay around $ 70 million. It looks like the cost to fully repair their system will be much higher than that. Given the increase in 2020, ransomware attacks are likely to increase in 2021 both in number and impact.

4. Cryptocurrency boom

Cryptocurrencies, whose use has increased rapidly in recent years, have become a target in phishing scales last year. In particular, Bitcoin was the most targeted cryptocurrency by criminals and hackers. We expect this increase to continue in 2021 when many countries will have economic difficulties due to the epidemic. With the devaluation of the currencies currently used, it is not surprising that hackers turn to Bitcoin or similar cryptocurrencies, which seem more reliable as ransom.

Just recently, a very famous hacker group organized a ransomware attack against a large electronics firm. The hacker group infiltrated the company’s system, hijacked 1200 servers belonging to the company, stole about 100 GB of files, and deleted the remaining backups. In the ransom attack, hackers demanded $ 34 million worth of Bitcoin from the company.

5. Government Attack Against Hackers

Governments and municipalities were one of the most targeted structures in the increasing attacks in 2020. Much damage was taken in the attacks on the government and municipalities. It has been a year that we encountered many examples of this. Attacks on hospitals and energy networks are among the most common. Considering all these, we expect that in 2021, the world governments and local municipalities will develop defense mechanisms against these phishing attacks. In 2021, governments that want to avoid financial losses will increase their efforts towards hackers.

We witnessed a few of these studies in 2020. The Office of Foreign Assets Control in America has tried to raise cyber awareness by announcing that it will investigate payments made due to ransomware attacks. US Cyber ​​Command Teams worked in partnership with Microsoft and worked on TrickBot before the election. Governments are expected to impose financial sanctions on countries where too many hacker groups work, such as Russia or China, next year.

What Can We Do About the Upcoming Cybersecurity Trends of 2021

1. Identify vulnerabilities in your email systems with Email Gap Analysis tools.

Combating cybersecurity trends in 2021 will not be as easy as it was last year. That’s why it is essential to make our preparations in advance. We need to check whether our defense tools are working properly against increasing attacks during the remote working period. That’s why all users and especially companies, should develop their cybersecurity strategies and add Email Gap Analysis to their protection tools. Click for more information.

2. Increase internal communication through Threat Sharing.

The most critical factor in phishing attacks is how vulnerable the victim is to deception and misleading. Hackers try to deceive their victims by posing different identities. At this point, they rely on the unconsciousness of the users. It is imperative to create a company-wide safety culture to raise collective awareness of your employees. Only in this way can staff at all levels reach a basic standard of safety training. For this purpose, our Threat Sharing tool helps you increase information sharing within the company. Click for more information.

“This post is originally published at www.phishing.org.uk”