Top Computer Security Threats that Could Dominate in 2017

If 2016 was the year of mainstream hacking, 2017 will be the year hackers will innovate. 2017 may be the year of increasingly creative hacks. In the past, cyber security was considered the realm of IT departments, but now, not anymore. As companies systematically integrate smart security into their systems, the hackers, too, evolve.

Remember that cybercriminals will always follow the money trail. Ransomware attacks will grow quickly this year because the attacks are cheap to operate, and many organizations are not yet applying the proper analysis and decision-making to appropriately defend against this threat. Simply put, cyber security threats aren’t going away any time soon. In 2017 there will be a number of them as technological development continues to advance rapidly and society becomes increasingly dependent on technology, a boon for hackers who are only becoming defter by the day.

Third Parties (Vendors, Contractors, Partners)

Third parties to companies or even just individuals like vendors and contractors pose a huge risk to anyone, and the majority has no secure system or dedicated team in place to manage these third-parties. As cyber criminals become increasingly sophisticated and cyber security threats continue to rise, organizations are becoming more and more aware of the risk third parties pose.

Cyber Espionage

Beyond hackers looking to make a profit through stealing individual and corporate data, entire nation states are now using their cyber skills to infiltrate other governments and perform attacks on critical infrastructure. Cyber-crime today is a major threat not just for the private sector and for individuals but for the government and the nation as a whole. Nation-state cyber warfare will become an equalizer, shifting the balance of power in many international relationships just as nuclear weapons did beginning in the 1950’s. Small countries will be able to build up a good cyber team to take on a larger country. In fact, cyber warfare skills have already become part of the international political toolkit, with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Ransomware and Extortion will Increase

The days of single-target ransomware will soon be a thing of the past. Next-generation ransomware paints a pretty dark picture as the self-propagating worms of the past may return to prominence, but this time they will carry ransomware payloads capable of infecting hundreds of machines in an incredibly short time span. As more devices become Internet-enabled and accessible and the security measures in place continue to lag behind, the associated risks will steadily be on the rise. Aside from the obvious risks for attacks on consumer IoT (Internet of Things) devices, there is a growing threat against industrial and even government IoT as well.