Intellectual property, car hacking, and economic challenges are among the areas that will face cybersecurity challenges in 2023.
According to Apricorn’s new 2023 forecast.
intellectual property
“Driven by nation-state threats, market competition, and insider threats, many companies are at increased risk of losing valuable intellectual property (IP) or having their research and development (R&D) efforts thwarted by data breaches. ,” said Managing Director John Fielding. EMEA of Apricot.
“We need to drive data encryption at every level of our business,” he says.
According to Apricorn’s 2022 UK IT Security Survey, 32% of IT leaders last year implemented policies to encrypt all corporate information as standard. In total, nearly half (47%) of organizations now require encryption of all data.
“Encryption can protect data both at rest and in transit, but the risks of not encrypting data only increase. We admit it was the leading cause of breaches, up from 12% in 2021,” says Fielding.
car hacking
“Our cars work better than ever and track more data than anyone probably thought,” says Fielding.
“We’ve seen simulations of cars hijacked by hackers with the intention of crashing cars or causing terror, but the real question is how to protect the data that hackers collect.
“Next year, automakers will have to look at ways to protect driver data, such as footage from dashcams, to credit card information stored on phones connected to vehicles via Bluetooth technology,” he said. say.
“Don’t forget your driver’s GPS location. If the wrong person accesses it, it will create a serious security problem. Adopting a 3-2-1 storage strategy and encrypting all data car manufacturers are leading the way, as innovators who recognize the need to protect this data.”
economic challenges
Fielding says organizations are likely to face resource constraints brought on by economic challenges, staff shortages, and layoffs of technicians.
“This lack of resources can put additional strain on IT teams and can increase cybersecurity risks,” he says.
“I foresee an increase in cybersecurity breaches and data loss events as a result of IT teams becoming too tight.”
To avoid data loss and cyberattacks, organizations need to focus on employee education, says Fielding.
Employees are the front line when it comes to preventing cyberattacks, but according to Apricorn’s 2022 Global IT Security Survey, 72% of employees are targets used by attackers to gain access to company data. I answer that I do not think so. Target too small and/or not properly protected.
“By investing in employee education, organizations can strengthen data security through basic prevention measures such as regular data backups with encryption, use of strong passwords, and enabling multi-factor authentication.” says Fielding.
“By combining these efforts, we can ensure data resilience even for organizations with limited resources.”
Cryptocurrencies and ransomware
“We expect an increase in ransomware attacks next year due to volatility in the global cryptocurrency market,” Fielding said.
“Ransomware attackers often demand payments in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies for data ransom schemes, and with the crypto market weakening, scammers are looking to compensate for their losses with additional attacks. It’s possible,” he says.
“When it comes to ransomware and cyberattacks, organizations should have a formal and well-practiced plan for backing up and recovering data.
“The 3-2-1 method is an industry best practice of creating at least three copies of data, storing them on at least two different media, and keeping at least one encrypted copy offsite and offline. An effective data backup protocol is essential in the event of a ransomware attack that can compromise multiple data sources, proving the need to make data more resilient.”
In Apricorn’s 2022 Global IT Security Survey, experts reported following best practices like backing up in real time and using a 3-2-1 method that can streamline data recovery in the event of a ransomware attack: Only 1 in 5.
“When it comes to DeFi (decentralized finance), 2023 will see one of two things start to emerge. Financial institutions will begin to accept cryptocurrencies and apply controls such as KYC (Know Your Customer Protocol) and governments on top. We will use the virtual currency chaos as a Trojan horse to phase out physical currency while introducing our own digital currency,” says Fielding.
“The latter provides a path for governments to exercise greater control over their citizens, and any movement in that direction should be questioned.”
data hygiene
The need for data restoration is likely to be a scenario for next year, Fielding said.
“With a variety of internal and external threats and risks that can lead to data loss, IT professionals must focus on not just backing up data, but ensuring that data backups are available. ’ he says.
“Data backup is only effective for recovery if the data is current, accurate, and accessible. , IT professionals should test data backups.
“Corrupted, compromised, or stale data only hinders recovery efforts, so your backup and recovery strategy must be intentional, practical, and effective. An Apricorn survey found that 99% of respondents Despite having a strategy, 26% emphasized it: Percentage of people who needed to restore data from backup but were unable to fully restore all data.”
