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6 cybersecurity predictions for the year ahead

At the beginning of last year Stroz Friedberg, a risk management consultancy specialised in cybersecurity and part of the Aon group, made several predictions for 2016, some of which came true. For example, the company says that it correctly predicted the following:

  • cyber threats influence the 2016 US election;
  • IoT incidents shift the dialogue from functionality to security;
  • insider threat looms large; and
  • data processing and storage goes local.

What will cybersecurity look like in 2017?

For the year ahead, the company makes the following six predictions:

  1. In 2017 we will see IoT devices compromised, harnessed as botnets, and used as launching points for malware propagation, SPAM, DDoS attacks, and anonymising malicious activities.
  2. Cyber espionage will continue to influence global politics and will spread to the upcoming elections in Latin America and Europe.
  3. Data sabotage as the next big threat will become a reality in 2017. Criminals will seek to sow confusion and doubt over the accuracy and reliability of information, impairing decision-making across the private and public sector.
  4. As organizations continue to migrate to and embrace evolving technologies, including the cloud and IoT, and in parallel shore up perimeter defences to raise the bar on network security, criminals will increase their focus on the human element as an entry point to pivot into broader network systems.
  5. Increased pressure from regulators worldwide will push in-house red teaming capabilities to accelerate in 2017, and companies that are not in the cyber business will face a different challenge: recruiting, motivating, and retaining highly technical cyber talent to keep their red teams at the forefront of cybersecurity.
  6. The financial services industry will be the early-adopters of making cybersecurity due diligence a critical part of the pre-M&A due diligence process, learning from high profile transactions that were derailed in 2016 following the exposure of cyber vulnerabilities.

For more detail on these cybersecurity predictions, read Stroz Friedberg's report.


CTMfile take: 2017 will see the threat of cyber attacks pick up pace and companies are urged to invest in defending their company data against a wide variety of cyber threats.

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