TRENDING
Dr Alex Tarter , Chief Cyber Consultant and CTO at Thales UK :
Resilience is the new efficiency
As the pandemic hit , many companies were forced to react quickly to keep themselves going and meet customer needs . However , this move to digital has opened up a gateway for hackers , who have attempted to take advantage of a great attacker surface . 2021 will start to see the trend towards efficiency over resilience reversed as companies realise the damage that can be done if these key services go down . This could result in the security budget overtaking the R & D budget this year .
Business will take the fight to hackers
The business-hacker relationship has largely always been one-way , with cybercriminals attempting to
If 2020 is to be defined by the Coronavirus , then 2021 will , hopefully , be the year of the vaccine . break in and businesses reacting . However , 2021 will see that relationship change as businesses go on the offensive and attempt to throw hackers off their game . Companies will start using deceptive techniques such as deploying fake high-attraction systems to divert attackers , or leave fake credentials ( breadcrumbs ) that lead to a fake high-value target .
Cybersecurity recruitment to coincide with vaccine rollout
If 2020 is to be defined by the Coronavirus , then 2021 will , hopefully , be the year of the vaccine . Scientists and medical professionals have been working against the clock to produce a vaccine that will mitigate the virus but within that , unfortunately , are threat actors looking to upset the process and steal data . With medical and logistical information at such a premium , the UK still faces a cybersecurity talent shortage that could leave its health industry exposed . In 2021 ,
expect to see a greater effort from the healthcare industry to access cybersecurity expertise both from a recruitment perspective and a partnership viewpoint in order to protect their systems and protect against misinformation about the vaccine process .
Companies set aside budget to respond to crypto-ransomware
Dr Alex Tarter , Chief Cyber Consultant and
CTO at Thales UK
With the world so interconnected , 2021 will see hackers adapt their currently highly successful crypto-ransomware campaigns against a company ’ s enterprise networks , to also start targeting their vital industrial and process control systems . As businesses progress with their Digital Transformation programmes , they will become increasingly attractive targets for ransomware gangs . These attackers will block access to vital production and automation services rendering companies unable to operate , unless they pay or institute an expensive and timeconsuming recovery exercise . As a result , we ’ re likely to see a dramatic uptick in companies paying cryptoransoms in 2021 or conducting resiliency exercises , with many setting aside a portion of their budgets to prepare for it during the year . p
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