On May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline, Co. was forced to close operations after a ransomware hack was confirmed to have breached their systems. This attack hindered services to the East-coast of the United States and sparked fears of a massive gas shortage to American motorists. This hack greatly compromised Colonial Pipeline’s system integrity and put private data at risk.

5G is a wireless technology with higher speeds and increased bandwidth, which means that you can download/stream videos online at a faster rate without worrying much about the number of users on the network. 5G networks also help reduce the time needed for data to travel across the network. This process is called latency, which is a major factor in automated processes, such as self-driving cars and factory robots. Due to the massive connectivity of devices collectively known as the Internet of Things (IoT) across 5G networks, viable and in-depth security measures should be in place to prevent cybercriminals from hijacking the connected devices or launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

When hackers breach a database, they take advantage of weak or stolen passwords 81% of the time. This is what led Troy Hunt to publish a new version Pwned Passwords where people can verify if the password they typed in has been leaked in a previous data breach. The intention is there: businesses are not supposed to let their customers (or employees) use compromised passwords, especially those written in plain text. This begs the question: are passwords enough to secure companies when an actual breach happens?

The healthcare sector is developing more technologically advanced devices aimed at making healthcare more accurate and safer. While the goal is to accelerate the body’s capacity to heal, computer-hacking threats to these devices that millions of people depend on pose serious issues. It is also not a surprise why hackers are extremely interested in health record data; while social security number is worth 10 cents on the dark web, and credit card 25 cents, medical health record data could be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. This means trouble not only for healthcare providers but also the patients they help.

The monumental success of the semi-automated facial recognition traces its roots back in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 1988. Detectives used composite drawings of suspects and ran them through the very first system deployed to the Lakewood Division, in hopes that the digitized mugshots in their database would reveal who their prime suspect would be.

In 2015, experts declared that the fourth industrial revolution had begun in Germany and other countries. The manufacturing industry started developing smart machines to do more complex work and in the years that followed, these smart machines include fitness bracelets connected to mobile applications that give real-time updates on exercise routines, and in smart refrigerators that can communicate if it’s time to order more groceries.

Medical devices have gone from simple bandages that help wrap up wounds to MRI machines that scan the body for organ irregularities. With increasing complexity over the last five years, these devices have come to rely on software and the Internet to assist people with more efficiency. Now that these machines are able to communicate with one another, their network is susceptible to data loss and compromise due to cyberattacks. A good example of this was the 2017 WannaCry’s ransomware attack against the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), costing them £92M to recover the data and its subsequent cleanup.

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:

Over the past few years, businesses have increasingly shifted towards digital customer communication and records. As efficiency and connectivity of this digitization of business has increased, so have the likelihood and potential damage of cyberattacks. As our society nears yet another informational shift towards 5th generation (5G) wireless networks, these already prevalent dangers to corporate data security will intensify.