As we move into the final months of 2022, it’s time for companies to take a hard look at the coming year and what challenges it might bring. Here are some of our cybersecurity predictions for 2023, identifying new trends, developments, and things to watch out for.
Internet of Things
There are a number of trends that have been identified moving into the new year which promise to shake up the business world. But of all the cybersecurity predictions being made for 2023, none are as potentially complicating as the continued adoption and government regulation of the Internet of Things.
Internet of Things (IoT) refers to networked devices connected together, ranging from appliances, cars, wearables and office systems. Analysts at Gartner predict that in 2023, there will be 43 billion IoT-connected devices in the world. The IoT remains a major concern for cybersecurity analysts worldwide. Since the individual devices do not directly store sensitive data, manufacturers have not made keeping them secure and updated a priority. As such, they remain a potentially dangerous backdoor hostile actors can exploit to gain access to connected systems on the network.
These gaps are slowly being closed and addressed: last year, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a whitepaper with recommendations for cybersecurity labeling for consumer IoT products and the Biden administration has since stated they aim to move forward with it. Other governments are sure to not be far behind. In the interim, however, the continued adoption of IoT is sure to remain a major area of potential risk and focus.
Diversified communication methods
As discussed at length by Cybersecurity Insiders, one of the major concerns thanks to the aftermath of the COVID pandemic and our gradual shift towards home office or hybrid work has been securing communications – be it through chat apps, email, video conferencing, or traditional calls.
Unlike in a typical office environment, where communications are secured within a company intranet, the shift to remote works has opened potential vectors for attack by necessitating remote connections. Over the past two years, the vulnerabilities this exposes have gradually been closed off, but the evolution of the communication sphere including expanding adoption of MS Teams means this will continue being a concern moving forward.
Ransomware
As in previous years, ransomware is slated to continue being one of the main threats in 2023. Fortinet documented 10, 666 new ransomware variants in the first half of 2022, compared to 5,400 in the first half of 2021. This growth looks like it will continue moving into 2023 as well.
Ransomware has long been regarded as one of the most potentially damaging forms of cyberattack as well, from the notorious WannaCry attacks to the more recent cyberattack on Lincoln University, which forced the institution to permanently close. As the economy continues to shake down from 2022’s shocks, we can expect damaging ransomware attacks to continue developing in pace and complexity.
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