Cyber Security 2018

For the past few years, we have published an annual white paper on Cyber Security, and, as we continue this tradition for 2018, you can expect to see this year’s version within the next two weeks. This year, however, we are expanding our focus to include a number of topics both directly and indirectly relating to cyber security. These include cyber security regulations, the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, crypto currency, fake news and biometrics. Why? Because in the world today, these things all impact cyber security.

If crypto currency hasn’t given ransomware life, it has certainly enabled it to move to the forefront of cyber crime. It has made the payments of ransoms relatively easy and profitable for bad actors. Unfortunately, it has also paved the way for “amateur” criminals who can end up causing way more damage than they actually planed.

Advanced government cyber regulations are coming into effect in Europe and we expect other countries will follow (hopefully the USA). The problem may be in what some are calling the “Y2K effect”, meaning that many, if not most, companies seem to be way behind in preparing to augment required policies. This could be a problem for US companies doing business overseas.

Artificial intelligence will be used by criminals in highly sophisticated ways that will target governments, companies and consumers. Huge amounts of personally identifiable information (PII) has been compromised in the huge data thefts will have heard about this year, including Anthem and Equifax. We believe that this information can and will be used to psycho-graphically and demographically target consumers, governments and companies.

Fake news ties in with the use of artificial intelligence by cyber criminals to affect the behavior of people. (We are not going to look at fake news from a political perspective.)

We have long been proponents of multifactor password encryption, and still are, but it is also time to take a good hard look at biometrics. Apple has brought biometrics to the consumer forefront with the introduction of facial recognition, and with the cyber bad guys getting more clever every year, biometric recognition is probably in your future.

And then there is the Internet of Things (IoT), the technology that allows you to close your garage door from across town, control you're a/c or heat from your smartphone, or ask Alexa to play something by Frank Sinatra or Bruno Mars. It’s great stuff, but the security of these devices is quite questionable.

As a lead-in, we would suggest reading last year’s piece on Cyber Security 2017, and look for the upcoming update.