The cyber security community witnessed brazen attacks, emerging techniques and unfortunately, a general disregard for security best practices over the last year.

There’s no reason that suggests the status quo will change all that much in 2019.

Integrity360 experts are using the lessons they learned in 2018 to forecast the cyber-threats that businesses will likely face in 2019. First, let’s take a look back at the biggest trends that dominated the news over the last year.

Year in review: 2018’s biggest cyber security trends

The world saw a steady stream of data breaches over the course of 2019, with some taking place at the most influential companies in the Fortune 500. Facebook and Google both had their share of data leaks throughout 2018, while Marriott International was the victim of a hacking campaign that compromised 383 million records.

Many of the data breaches were the result of hackers widening their scope to include a variety of techniques, including:

• API vulnerabilities
• Misconfigured cloud servers
• Phishing campaigns
• Cross-site scripting
• Cryptojacking
• Ransomware
• Remote access trojans
• Formjacking
• Fileless attacks

Ransomware dominated the headlines per usual, with GandCrab terrorising consumers and businesses alike. SamSam ransomware targeted industries across Ireland, Europe and the US with critical infrastructure that couldn’t function without access to data.

Cryptojacking wasn’t far behind, with new strains of cryptomining malware expanding by 4,467 percent over the course of 2018, according to McAfee researchers. Campaigns like PowerGhost specifically targeted corporate networks to stay undetected and leech off of the massive amount of resources to gain a consistent and steady financial return.

Cyber risk wasn’t only confined to digital attacks, though. Spectre and Meltdown entered the news cycle in January 2018 and never really left, with new variants and a stream of patches making appearances throughout the year. The vulnerabilities kicked off a year-long parade of hardware exploits and supply chain attacks that will have enterprises thinking twice before purchasing new machines or systems.

Throughout it all, companies dealt with the ramifications of the GDPR going into effect and the minor but necessary changes to their cyber security frameworks. It was a tumultuous year that tested nearly every aspect of enterprises’ cyber security strategies.

Predicting the biggest threats in 2019

The biggest trends of 2018 will likely continue to evolve over 2019, but our team of cyber security experts also identified a number of threats that will pose an increased risk to businesses in the new year. These are:

• Human cyber security will need to be just as important as technological cyber security.
• Fileless attacks will turn into hackers’ primary method of delivering a payload.
• Identity and Access Management will rightly be seen as an essential part of cyber security.
• Companies will have to do more than just the bare minimum to secure the cloud.
• Vulnerabilities within hardware and firmware will continue to emerge.
• JavaScript code snippets putting card payment applications at risk.
• Companies will slow down security deployments and take their foot off the pedal of DevOps.
• Artificial intelligence will be critical for hackers and companies alike.

Tune into our webinar on 17 January 2019 to listen to our experts break down why each trend is on their radar in the new year.