Javvad Malik
2020 will go down as recent history’s most notorious year for many reasons - and cybersecurity is no exception. Over the past 12 months, we witnessed countless cyber-attacks including fraud, data breaches, espionage, nation state attacks, insider threats and many more as hackers looked to exploit the vulnerable and desperate state the world found itself in. While some incidents were more common than others, I observed five key themes that stood out to me from last year and I’ll evaluate them to see how we, as a collective, can better prepare ourselves in 2021.
Social Engineering and Fake News
At the height of the pandemic, hackers were exploiting confusion and uncertainty to their advantage, pushing out phishing and scams, to the point where there was a 6000% increase in pandemic-related phishing attacks. With confusion and fear consuming the masses, many didn’t know what information to believe and what information provided crucial pandemic advice and this played into the hands of cyber-criminals who preyed on this anxiety, leading to the noticeable spread of fake news and disinformation. The fake news campaigns largely dominated social media platforms - which at the time were unregulated - to misinform the public about the possible vaccine and its effects. However, the focus of these campaigns quickly revolved around the US elections which became a hot topic for debate. Nevertheless, at a time when many were seeking answers, the internet had become a hotbed of abuse, where lies were being spread and cyber propaganda was being found in tweets, deepfakes and unvetted articles. What may have once been seen as a joke had now become a new method to deceive and commit fraud.
Remote Working and Tech Debt
