IT Security Trends and Forecasts for 2021 | Total Security

Companies and organizations around the world will continue to work decentrally, thus increasing the attack surface for hackers.

Employees, as well as their private households and IoT devices, are increasingly the target of attacks and the gateway for cybercriminals who want to gain access to company and personal data. Dynamic security architectures are gaining importance. National states will be preoccupied with disinformation and threats from cyber attacks.

Marc Rogers, Executive Director of Cybersecurity Strategy at Okta, a provider of identity solutions for companies, has identified the most important IT security trends and formulated forecasts which developments will keep digitally networked societies busy in 2021 and which CIOs and CISOs should keep in mind.

1. Remote Work and The Digital Workforce

Corporate users are becoming the main target for cyberattacks

“Social contacts - private and professional - will be at least temporarily only possible to a limited extent next year and employees will often continue to work spatially separated from their teams. As a result, attacks targeting individuals will continue to grow, and the data theft business will grow dramatically. Threats such as Business E-Mail Compromise (BEC) or the sale of compromised identities and accesses will reach record levels.

An increase in data theft in the corporate environment is expected in 2021. It could be the year employee households become the vector of attack causing these big data breaches.

Zero Trust: Cloud initiatives and decentralized workforces are driving the development of dynamic security architectures

After employees and companies have become familiar with the new forms of remote work, those responsible will tackle the technical construction sites that have often arisen as a result of the sudden change to a new dynamic working methods. In some cases, this will lead to considerable changes in the IT architecture and at the same time can create new areas for attack. This will accelerate cloud initiatives and lead to greater use of intelligent and dynamic security architectures such as Zero Trust.

New areas of the security industry will arise around the evaluation of the new attack vectors. Conventional IT security approaches fail or are poorly tailored to scenarios in which privileged employees with access to sensitive data work decentrally. Also, many of the security challenges we faced back in 2020 are likely to lead to a new wave of innovation addressing aspects such as behavior analysis, device identification, and intelligent risk management that is aligned with the "New Normal".

2. Internet of Things

The growth of IoT continues to accelerate and personal smart devices become the biggest security risk for consumers and businesses

As many workers continue to work from home, their personal IoT and smart devices are becoming a greater threat to corporate IT security.  

We all use these devices for our entertainment and to automate aspects of our daily lives. From smart TVs to loudspeakers to refrigerators, more and more devices are connected to the Internet via home WiFi, thus creating possible points of attack for cyber criminals who are after data.

Also, the extremely fast-growing IoT market is tracking our health. Sports equipment now offers medical-grade sensors that users can use to monitor their heart rate and other body functions. However, very few people who use or even develop these devices have given real thought to where their data is going and how it is managed and secured. The lax data policies of these devices make it clear how vulnerable we are, yet companies continue to develop similar technologies for homes, cars, and cities.

In 2021, however, we will also see the Internet of Things mature in terms of security. New framework conditions and guidelines are to be drawn up worldwide, forcing manufacturers to integrate at least a certain level of security into their devices. The devices should not use weak standard passwords, patches must be possible, the manufacturers must provide support and bug programs.

3. Attacks Against the Nation States and Campaigns for Disinformation to Manipulate Elections

Disinformation and cyber attacks against nation-states will increase

Disinformation thrives on chaos and confusion: the more chaos, the more opportunities for cybercriminals. Since Disinformation as a Service (DaaS) can now be used on a larger scale, all groups have the opportunity to use disinformation tools that were previously only available to nation-states. Although less in the focus of international interest, it can be assumed that digital election manipulation and disinformation campaigns will also play a role in the federal election in Germany in 2021.

We already saw the start of these attacks in 2020, when protests and gaslighting operations aimed at manipulating and unsettling people attempted to create social movements out of nothing. The year 2021 will bring even more similar things. However, the number of groups and different agendas will continue to grow. The goals will range from appropriation, expansion, or retention of socio-political power to pure disruption. In some cases, disinformation tools will be used as a distraction in hybrid attacks that also include traditional cybersecurity and physical attacks.

4. Possible Effects of The US Election on Cyber Security

Recognition of the US election result will have an impact on cybersecurity

In 2021 and after the US elections, an increase in foreign actors is very likely to be expected. If the election result is not approved by the beginning of the year, many programs will be vulnerable and vulnerable. This type of chaos is a proven gateway for foreign attackers, who know that the more chaotic the social situation, the more difficult the attribution and tracing of the crime and the greater the chance of exploitation of the situation and profit.

Assuming a smooth transition, with the US authorities returning to normalcy in which those responsible play a bigger role in strategy and decision-making, we will see a strengthening of domestic programs and a more coherent approach to things like cybercrime in the US Experience the USA. While the previous government left positions such as the national CISO and other strategic tasks in the area of ​​cybersecurity vacant, it is to be expected that these will be filled quickly with a change of government.

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