Cyber Security Trends 2018

Cyber security is big business. There are countless cyber criminals out there trying to make money by exploiting weaknesses, just about all businesses are investing money into preventing it, and of course there are thousands of service providers developing solutions to the problem. That means that the landscape is changing rapidly, and as we move through 2018, we’re likely to see new trends in the industry. In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the major talking points for the next 12 months.

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GDPR

This is probably the big one. The EU’s GDPR regulations are arriving very soon, and lots of experts doubt that all businesses will be ready in time. This is especially true for American businesses - they might be one step removed, but if they operate in the EU, then they must comply. We’ll likely see a big rush to comply in May as the deadline looms, with the potential for a few high profile violations later in the year. It’s likely that the EU will make an example of a few businesses that fail to do things like gain permission for data collection, or report cyber security incidents, in order to persuade everyone else to get in line.

If you’re not sure exactly what GDPR entails, then you might find our free overview useful, which you can find here.

Multi-Factor Authentication

Service providers are typically reluctant to introduce more complex authentication requirements, but the days of just being able to use a password on any account are likely to be drawing to a close. Consumers are increasingly aware of the threat of identity theft and other forms of cyber crime, and are likely to warm to the idea of further security measures as the threat of cyber crime becomes clearer to them.

We’re very likely to see a trend towards multi factor authentication on important accounts of all kinds as businesses look to ensure that they’re keeping their customers’ accounts safe, even if that does mean a slightly delayed user experience. There are lots of ways that this can be done, and there are even some very innovative methods. In recent months there’s been a trend towards people recording their finger print alongside their signature on their credit report in order to ensure that identity theft is even more difficult than it was previously.

AI

This is probably the most interesting development that we’re going to see in the coming year and into 2019. Fintech companies are rapidly improving the way that they can use AI as part of their cyber security offering, and it seems only a matter of time until it’s widespread among businesses small and large. Banks are likely to adopt this technology fairly quickly, as AI is becoming very good at detecting fraudulent activity. It can spot patterns in credit card transactions and activity for instance, and decide if it’s actually the account holder making those actions. The application could be limitless of course in making sure that the right people are accessing networks, data and even hardware. One of the big attractions of AI when it comes to cyber security measures is that it can interpret activity without actually causing any delay in the customer experience. It can watch and spot patterns from behind the scenes, and is becoming very accurate indeed.

IOT

The internet of things - which refers to all of the interconnected devices that you might have in a home or business - represents a huge opportunity. Consider the power of having numerous appliances and devices all in synchronicity with one another. From interconnected lights in the home, to more complex business systems, the potential for productivity and data improvements are huge. The problem of course is that the more connected devices there are, the more points of entry there are into a network. We’re likely to see a fair few incidences of breaches whereby some form of IOT-ready appliance or device allowed cyber criminals to gain access to a network, and as a result, an increase in security surrounding the IOT. We’ve seen this already with connected cars that can be unlocked and even controlled because their systems are not wholly secure.