6 Cyber Security Trends for 2019
The tech industry has had a big year in 2018 with several new technologies arising and claiming their spots on the stage – blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and neural networks. These technologies have infiltrated every sector, from public services to business creating new opportunities for innovation and disruption, but aren’t without risks. New technologies are always slightly ahead of the security designed to protect them. For example, blockchain has created thousands of new ideas and businesses, but it has come with a bevy of high-profile cyber attacks and vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, cyber security has continued its steady pace of innovation and new solutions emerge daily. Here are 6 trends you should adopt in 2019.
1) Predictive cyber security boosted by AI
Analytics has become a prominent part of most organizations’ technology infrastructure which means that organizations are more capable than ever before of diagnosing and understanding their security in real-time. For instance, the field of fraud prevention and anti-money laundering has received a massive boost with machine learning and deep learning models now being able to determine which transactions are most likely to be fraudulent automatically and efficiently, with fewer false positives.
For financial services providers, banks, and other businesses, the ability to understand patterns and trends that could indicate fraud is vital. More importantly, the capability of having this information in real-time makes it easier to spot and detect fraud. As AI and machine learning continue to improve in 2019 and beyond, predictive cyber protection will become a norm, not an exception.
2) Self-Evaluating applications evolution continued
In addition to detecting external threats, AI and machine learning will continue to play an important role in helping applications protect themselves. For human operators, it is not always easy to detect small vulnerabilities – and cyber attacks – in massive networks, leaving some areas inevitably exposed and without real protection. Automation is already a vital trend in tech, but its combination with AI has given it new wings to spread into different areas. One of the biggest new movements in the upcoming year will be the rise of runtime application self-protection (RASP), which will be able to detect problems without human intervention.
RASPs provide an additional layer of security as they detect, diagnose, and defend against attacks that happen at an application level, such as SQL injections. Per a report from Gartner, nearly 40% of enterprise-level businesses will be using RASPs to some extent by 2020.
3) Authentication revolution
Even though the value of the information we store online continuously grows bigger, the tools we use to keep that data safe remain somewhat obsolete. Passwords are useful for verification and identification purposes, but they are also notoriously poor tools when it comes to guaranteeing data security. More recently biometric verification, 2-factor authentication, and other methods have started replacing passwords, but 2019 and beyond should be a stepping stone for a new change.
For one, Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) is becoming increasingly popular and removing the need for passwords. Moreover, Fast Identity Online (FIDO), which uses biometric or vocal recognition, is becoming more widely accepted and presents a more secure alternative to passwords. Even technology like blockchain offers a significant upgrade in verifying and authenticating users thanks to robust, transparent protocols that remove the need for obsolete and unsafe passwords.
4) Data security regulation
Data has been in the news several times in 2018, mostly in a negative light. This year has already seen several high-profile security breaches, and not even companies like Facebook are safe from a massive attack that affected 50 million users’ data. Moreover, the speed at which data is generated, stored and shared has increased exponentially. In this new unexplored environment, understanding the best practices for governing data and ensuring its security is paramount to safety.
As these issues continue to pop up and take over headlines, companies are going to continue reevaluating their data security governance to find better ways to adapt. Areas like big data governance and cloud governance will become larger issues as organizations continue to embrace these new fields. As our understanding of these technologies expands, data security governance will evolve to keep up with these changing paradigms.
5) The IoT network growth
Internet of things (IoT) devices are becoming more and more widespread, and that trend isn’t slowing any time soon. IoT devices are difficult to update, and many have lax security measures in place – IoT devices within an organization can put companies, infrastructure and individuals at risk. The problem is compounded when compromised devices become gateways into industrial control or supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Those systems are often less protected and more difficult to update.
Agile methodologies have been adapted for software development and threat modeling cannot continue to be ruled by an outmoded waterfall approach when things are moving so quickly. We must be iterative in our approaches and respond quickly as the threats pile up due to development speed and the pure volume of wireless sensors. By doing so, we’ll be better prepared to handle the sheer volume of internet-enabled devices that come online every day.
6) BYOD expansion
The Bring-Your-Own-Device trend is quite popular in business IT since it reduces corporate costs, makes remote working easier, and has been shown to increase productivity when deployed properly. However, accounting for every user’s security standards is a logistical nightmare for IT departments. Most workers do not keep the same high bar set by corporate regulations and can create serious vulnerabilities for even the most secure networks. (Take a look at our 10 tips on making your employees care about cyber security.)
2019 will see an intersection of rising popularity and a need for a safer way to implement BYOD policies. Whether it be through verification systems that lock sensitive data or parts of the network or simply through smarter and more secure networks, the technology is here to stay, and security will have to keep pace.