A 2018 Cybersecurity Review

The threats and opportunities

Cyber advancements and events took center stage this year. This brought about new threats, opportunities, and solutions that are worth looking back to and learning from. As 2018 comes to a close, let us review four major trends:

Regulation of cybersecurity and cyber-privacy

With the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into effect last May 25, major global companies have been struggling to meet its requirements and avoid paying hefty fines. This regulation calls for an increase in transparency and opt-out options for their customers.

The GDPR places importance on data protection and safeguards users who subscribe to these companies. Global corporations now must be mindful of their privacy policies, data governance procedures, and internal regulations. This trend has started to spread globally as several countries have started revising their own data protection regulations. California also implemented its own Consumer Privacy Act last June as a means to protect citizens’ private information.

Call for threat detection and response

With nation-states lobbying for user protection, corporations are likewise promoting threat detection procedures. Businesses still have a difficult time detecting data breaches immediately, despite the availability of sophisticated software. Moreover, IT departments across the board show a great lack of cybersecurity experts and advanced threat intelligence. This issue is present in both big and small companies and has been pointed out by major tech industries. Without the help of cybersecurity experts there is delayed threat detection and response, preventing businesses from combating cybercrime .

Utilization of artificial intelligence

In order to innovate technological protection, organizations are now starting to make use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning . These are used to study malware that targets their network and to pinpoint the cracks in the system. With the help of these behavioral analysis tools, corporations are able to deduce the best ways to counter malware or defend themselves from potential threats.

Increase of sophisticated cyber attacks

While the latter advancements have been used for cybersecurity, these can still be used to steal or corrupt data. Following 2017’s devastating cyber issue between US and Russia , 2018 saw major industries targeted by cyber criminals. Health, finance, and energy industries hold significant amounts of data and have become the target of cyberattacks.

Health service facilities now make use of digital applications to keep track of their patients’ information, making them more susceptible to cybercrime. The most notable one this year was at Norway’s healthcare security center called HelseCERT. Around 2.9 million civilians’ personal information were put at risk during a security breach .

Information Age also reports that attacks on financing firms rose by 80% in 2017 . This number has steadily risen this year, given that investment dealers and asset managers rely heavily on outsourcing services. Personal information then becomes compromised when shared with those outside of the company.

With these events lining the path for next year, the challenge remains in staying above the threats and developing the solutions. Corporations should also remain compliant to data protection regulations and invest on cybersecurity experts. Through this, they can start 2019 prepared with the proper defenses.

Partner with us.

If you want to evaluate any vulnerabilities with your applications or network environment, Wilson Consulting Group offers its Penetration Testing service. We conduct real-life testing of an organization’s applications, systems and devices to identify vulnerable Internet Protocol (IP) access points and determine where resilience to internal and external attacks and breaches are weak.