Top Cyber Security Threats for Organizations in 2019

Cyber threats are constantly increasing and those things which were considered to be more secure a few years back have become less secure. According to a recent survey done by the World Economic Forum , cyber-attack was the prime concern of executives of the developed nations. As we are now reaching the end of the year 2018, let’s look at what can be the top cybersecurity threats for organizations.

Phishing Schemes

Phishing attacks will continue to be used by cybercriminals to target business executives. As per data, majority of cyber-attacks that have been successful are due to phishing. More than $12 billion losses globally are due to comprise in a business email, which is a very specific targeted phishing technique. There is a myth associated with the phishing technique that only emails are used to target users, which is not the truth. In corporate phishing attacks, hackers use text messages, phone calls, and even social media platforms to trick victims.

Cloud Cyber Security Threats

No doubt cloud computing has eased up the business process of enterprises but it has made easier for hackers to attack organizations in a number of ways due to several loopholes in the architecture. Starting from cloud malware to misconfigured AWS buckets, there are various ways by which enterprises will be targeted. Unlike, on-premises security, cloud security issues must be solved carefully.

Shadow App

There has been an increasing tendency in employees to use Shadow Apps in the workplace. Most of these cases are not due to any evil intention but to work efficiently using easy technology. These are called shadow apps as the company IT admin may not have approved the same.  In 2019, this tendency may still show a rise, which can cause serious threats to the cybersecurity of organizations. Several of these apps may have compliance issues, and continuous use of the same without the knowledge of the organization IT team will open doors for cybercriminals.

Cryptojacking

The year 2019 will also see cryptojacking scaling up with more and more corporate computers being used for mining cryptocurrencies. Cryptojacking is considered extremely dangerous as it crashes applications and damages hardware, It will be counted as one of the biggest cybersecurity threats for organizations.

Ransomware

Ransomware have already created a lot of damages in 2018 and it will still be one of the favorite tools of cybercriminals to carry on attacks.  Healthcare and critical infrastructure systems are particularly at risk of being victims of targeted ransomware attacks.

Unsecured IoT Devices

IoT Devices have no doubt made our life easier but these have opened doors for cyber-attacks. A number of these devices used in our everyday life do not comply with the standard security guidelines and also contain serious security vulnerabilities. As per a report on CSO online, Forty-five percent of enterprise IoT buyers admit that cybersecurity as a major obstacle in purchasing these devices as everything starting from baby monitors to home security cameras are being hacked every now and then.

Apart from the mentioned external cybersecurity threats for organizations, there are also internal threats that will, directly and indirectly, lead to a security compromise of organizations. These can be anything starting from unhealthy cybersecurity practices to rogue employees leaking official data.