Cybersecurity in 2022: What threats and challenges await us in the digital world next year?

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic forever changed the world and forced humans to adapt to a reality in which technology it played an important role in keeping society itself going.

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Two years have passed since the coronavirus changed the rules of the game and the digitization process that began to take place in 2020 and finished consolidating in 2021 has made people even more dependent on technological advances and the Internet. While both were key to keeping us afloat during the health crisis, this brought its own number of consequences as cybercrime has increased exponentially in this period.

Now that the year is ending and 2022 is looming, these will be the trends in cybersecurity that experts indicate as key to this new time in which we are plunging.

The challenges of hybrid work

During the quarantine, the mode of work par excellence was teleworking since, given the circumstances, the governments of the world preferred to avoid the presence of many people on the streets, public transport and offices so that the spread of the virus could be controlled. However, now that time has passed and the vaccination process is advancing successfully -in certain territories more than in others- what now predominates is a “hybrid work”.

This term refers to the possibility that workers of a company or entity have to choose under which model they want to work: in person or from home. In addition, it also provides flexibility regarding schedules and other aspects of the workday. This has made it increasingly difficult for companies to control the flow of their information between employees.

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Since working in the cloud and the adoption of software and infrastructure as a service are the fundamental bases of teleworking, many cybercriminals have taken advantage of the fact that the system is more vulnerable to carry out their misdeeds. The misconfiguration of the programs used, weak passwords and technical failures are the nodes that these digital criminals use to commit crimes.

“The sophistication and scale of cyber attacks will continue to break records and we expect an increase in computer hijackings and mobile attacks. Users must ensure that they have adequate measures in place to prevent the most advanced cyberattacks, be proactive and do not leave any device unprotected or supervised “said Barry Spielman, Allot’s director of Product Marketing. Companies must identify ways to keep their information safe both in their own offices and in the homes of their workers so as not to have problems in the future.

Individuals and businesses have a tough year ahead of them to protect themselves from cybercriminals. (Photo: Jefferson Santos / Unsplash)

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Growing cyber threats

Due to the same digitization and the transition of workspaces in the real world to cyberspace, cyber criminals have focused efforts on developing new ways to attack people and steal their information, swindle or harm them in one way or another to benefit themselves. Cybersecurity experts point out that the main threats in the digital world for 2022 are the following:

• Fake news and disinformation campaigns: The ‘fake news’ will continue to be the instrument of cybercriminals to destabilize and disturb the population through the Internet and, more specifically, through social networks. In addition, the development of scams with false web pages and fraudulent contests will continue to increase in its different aspects such as phishing (by Internet), vishing (by voice call) or smishing (by text message)
• Cyber ​​attacks on the supply chain: As the constant search for methods to plan and provide individual products and services continues in most industries in the market, cybercriminals seek to breach this supply chain in order to destabilize businesses. Public-private collaboration will be essential to protect yourself.
• Cold War: Analysts believe that the Third World War is already being fought in cyberspace between the great powers of the planet. The year 2022 augurs an increase in cyber attacks that aim to create political, social and economic instability on a global scale to favor some nations or powerful groups and harm other entities.
• Data breaches: The hijacking of private information in companies and governments will be a real headache for executives and public officials in 2022. It is expected that the collection of the ransoms that cybercriminals demand of these entities will increase exponentially and that the attacks will occur with more frequently and on a larger scale.
• Cryptocurrencies: At present, the rise of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Binance Coin and Ethereum has changed the rules of the game in the world economy. With units of these currencies reaching tens of thousands of dollars, criminals already develop systems that, although they are not capable of violating the blockchain technology that uses this digital money, can be used for those who manipulate these currencies voluntarily surrender when scammed.
• Attacks on mobile devices: It is a fact that humans are quite dependent on their smartphones today. These minicomputers that we can keep in our pockets not only allow us to make calls or surf the Internet, but also contain our bank accounts and information on our jobs. Without a doubt, a clear target for digital criminals in their quest to line their pockets with other people’s property.
• Microservices vulnerabilities: During the year, we saw how failures in the cloud and other services generated millions of dollars in losses for companies that use them to make money (see Facebook servers or Amazon Web Services). No system is completely foolproof, and hackers know this perfectly well, which is why the cloud is the new target of criminals.
• Deepfake technology: Thanks to this amazing – and for some chilling – technology, montages of photos and videos are more difficult to distinguish and the line between what is real and what is false has been reduced so much that it can cause problems for people. While it looks like something out of a science fiction movie, it should come as no surprise that cybercriminals create a video with the face of a company employee or high command to access and steal valuable information.
• Ransomware: The development of harmful software for computers and cell phones has increased and reached critical levels. Viruses are becoming more and more sophisticated and the forms of infection of these programs that ask us for a reward in exchange for releasing the information from our technological equipment will be more and more varied.

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