From attacks based on artificial intelligence to vulnerabilities targeting routers and IoT devices, these are some of the types of cyber attacks threats of greatest impact in 2019
The security firm Panda Security presented a list of the 7 main cyber threats that are expected for 2019.
The types of cyber attacks that threaten 2019
1.Hacking ‘live’
Although ‘traditional’ malware types, such as Trojans or worms, are still widely used by attackers, the new ‘no malware file’ attack techniques will grow at a faster pace. It will be one of the most threatening types of cyber attacks.
This is due, on the one hand, to the greater difficulty in detecting them, and on the other, to the greater cyber-offensive capacity worldwide, both on the part of states and criminal gangs, associated or not with states.
2. In 2019, the concept of digital sovereignty will also extend to security
We think that this trend will be strengthened in 2019, especially in Europe (which will move towards European digital sovereignty), which will be configured as a fourth block, against the US block, China and Russia.
This will have an important effect in terms of cybersecurity strategies and policies, as well as product purchasing decisions in this area.
3. Increase in attacks on the supply chain (Supply Chain Attacks)
Possibly one of the most dangerous types of attacks, attacks on the supply chain involves the infiltration in the process of development of companies or legitimate software projects, in which attackers plant malicious code, which is distributed with the updates of said software to its users.
4. Artificial intelligence will be increasingly used by attackers
The same tools and knowledge used to analyze large volumes of data and produce intelligent algorithms will be increasingly used by attackers, with malicious purposes.
5. New catastrophic vulnerabilities will be discovered
We think that the greater attention that these vulnerabilities received among researchers, given their impact, and the little research done to date in comparison with the vulnerabilities in applications (which means that there is still much to discover), will probably make us more news in this sense, with the consequent risk of developing functional exploits that end up in the hands of cybercriminals.
6. More attacks on routers and IoT devices
The main reasons are two: on the one hand, the default security of such devices leaves much to be desired, with factory passwords or directly without a password, for example.
On the other hand, they are more difficult devices to update, in which many users do not even know how to do it, so their protection level is much lower than other devices (PCs, laptops)
7. Misuse of data and false news
Just as false news seeks to influence the opinion and political behavior of people, personal information disseminated on social networks of various types (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), duly analyzed and correlated, can allow the development of attacks by Very sophisticated and personalized social engineering, with malicious purposes.