Whether or not you’re in a technical field, it’s important to be aware of current cybersecurity trends as data breaches are getting more prevalent across the world.

For that reason, when I was invited to write about cybersecurity, I’ve decided to cover the following three topics, based on what I have read this year, plus my experience and thoughts on this subject.

Common types of Cybersecurity Attacks

By the sheer numbers, the top 3 are:

Cryptojacking – or attack that targets any device with computational power to mine cryptocurrencies – it was going strong in 2018, and I don’t see it fading from the arena in 2019, it’s going to rise as attacks against more exotic devices (like cable routers) will become more common.

Data Breaches – again, huge numbers from 2018, no decrease in sight, with severe consequences to its victims. We might see an uptick here in regard of attack against data integrity – not just plain data theft, but an attack with long-lasting damage to reputation that will get people to question the integrity of the data itself.

Ransomware – it’s not something new to anybody in the industry, but the tendency is that they will get increasingly more sophisticated and creative – for example, offering its victims pyramid-scheme style discounts in order to increase infections (use a link to infect other systems, and if they pay, you will get your files back for free).

So, what cybersecurity trends could be on the horizon? What should we look out for?

General Cybersecurity Trends

The attackers will become smarter, more commercial, less traceable. It includes everything from more sophisticated code, broader attack vectors, more complex social engineering and money laundering to orchestrating attacks from jurisdictions where cybercrime is barely a crime or where the local law enforcement is inadequate to combat it. A business of any size needs to hire a cybersecurity specialist that can help adapt to the ever-changing threat landscape.

Attacks against consumer electronics and IoT will increase as it presents increasingly broader attack vector and the devices themselves are commonly not designed with much security in mind.

Other Cybersecurity Trends to watch for

It’s time to take data protection and privacy seriously. The introduction of GDPR, which came into force in the EU on 25th May 2018, got the ball rolling in the right direction. Although, 2019 will probably be the year when its principles will go further than compliance on paper, to a more practical widespread use, including being adopted by organisations outside of the EU. Perhaps we’ll also see similar legislation in other countries.

The use of Machine Learning and AI in both, offensive and defensive techniques, will increase. I guess that we have to wait and see how exactly this plays out in 2019, but it’s inevitable expecting to see malware that emulates the behaviour of specific users in order to fool both security systems and security personnel. From the defensive side, it’s already being used to recognise patterns in suspicious files, network activity, etc. Even though its use will increase, let’s not fool ourselves. There’s no sci-fi like self-learning, self-healing AI product to keep you 100% safe anywhere.

Which brings us to security personnel: It’s clear that the demand for cybersecurity skills – everything from management, prevention, detection, containment to forensics, – is increasing and at the same time,  is creating the need for ordinary members of your organisation to become security conscious.

Lastly, if we apply common sense and promote good digital hygiene, we will be limiting the exposure to cyber threats.