“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.”  - Albert Einstein.

Looking into the future is quite a tricky thing. When the year winds down we look back to what was happening in those 12 months and calculate the probable future. Have you seen the prognosis on the pandemic at the end of 2019 though? The COVID-19 was a shock to all global systems, introducing the whole new world of “social distancing”, “lockdown” and, of course, working from home. It turned out to be more of a “family time” year, putting great pressure on businesses and cybersecurity in particular. With 2020 ending soon we are asking ourselves: how might 2021 play out?

As the pandemic proved, there should always be room for the unknown. To make your hands free to fight the possible unknown, turn the known threats of the future into a problem, solved today. Here are the top 6 cybersecurity predictions for you to start taking action.

1.        Old cybersecurity models will not work

In the good old office times, the majority of companies were worried about compliance with the regulations more, then the cybersecurity itself. There was a clear division between “within the company network” and “outside”. Simple measures put in place could help reduce the chance of cyberattack, but now facing the need to protect hundreds of home offices those measures become pricy. Check for the solutions, able to protect micro-perimeters now to use them in most probably remote-working-2021.

2.        Insider threats will spike

Work from home will likely result in the growth of insider breaches, associated with unsecured networks, unauthorized remote access, weak or outdated passwords, and the misuse of personal devices. In 2021 under-protected home network will become a bridge to access valuable endpoint devices, compromising corporate networks in the end. Internal fraud will evolve as well. Organizations will have to review their approach to insider threats and employ some form of risk-based Zero Trust architecture. 

3.        Cybercriminals will utilize vulnerabilities in-home office software

We expect to see breaches, caused by such security flaws, which home users will not be able to patch. For instance, this year Microsoft decided not to provide extended support of Windows 7 and Server 2008, which were very popular among users since the later versions before 10 were considered troublesome. Some of the users also just don’t update. This will make Windows 7 an easy target for cybercriminals.

4.        Ransomware will become more sophisticated

Healthcare, being under huge pressure due to pandemic, will be at a gunpoint of cybercriminals further. In September 2020 a woman in Germany died during a ransomware attack on the Duesseldorf University Hospital. Doctors had to turn away a patient, who later passed away in the ambulance on a way to another clinic. It may be the first death directly linked to a cyberattack on a hospital, but not the last. Hospitals aren’t ready for cyberattacks, having their specific radiology, cardiology, and other equipment connected to the internet. If the work of those systems is disrupted, doctors will not be able to treat critical patients.

Usual scheme of ransom will develop as well with cybercriminals stealing data before they encrypt it. Thus, organizations paying ransoms to regain access to their data will undergo the after-attacks with more demands or reputational losses.

5.        Providers and organizations will share responsibility for Cloud-related threats

Expanded cloud usage will require organizations to manage risks. Organizations have to determine who can access the Cloud, how can one access it, what data should be there, what and when should be deleted.

Although the Cloud provider is responsible for securing the cloud, organizations are still in charge of control over their digital footprint.

6.        Organizations will need to implement cybersecurity evaluation processes

Cybersecurity and its efficiency will become a separate business discipline in 2021. Responsible employees will have to timely review spending and outcome to ensure their organization’s cyber defense is effective and optimized. Security will become a valuable part of a budget as procurement and HR.