Cybersecurity: preparing for the onslaught

By Sean Duca

The accelerating pace of digital innovation parallels the increase in cyberattacks. With technology being both an enabler and a disruptor to our way of life, the question remains: are organizations well equipped to deal with the security threats we will face in 2022?

Here are our predictions for the cybersecurity trends that will shape the digital landscape for the year ahead:

As calls for regulation grow, cryptocurrency will fuel the evolution of the ransomware industry. As a result, companies will focus on improving their cybersecurity posture, identifying their level of readiness for an attack, and closing any gaps in their existing security systems.

Security leaders need to lead boardroom discussions, position cybersecurity as a team sport, and foster collaboration among security vendors, cloud providers, and telecommunications partners. The more united we are in our approach against cyber attackers, the harder it will be for them to put our finances, information and livelihoods at risk.

Increased interactions with smart, intuitive devices with sensory triggers will create tons of digital data that will double into existing physical spaces. Organizations need to develop a strategic approach that will provide complete visibility into this hyper-connected security infrastructure.

Organizations will need to adopt a bulletproof strategy that combines Zero Trust architecture with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to help businesses accurately profile, correlate and contextualize every digital entity about who they are, what they access and always checking every step of the digital interaction. , eliminating the implicit trust and validating each step.

Attacks on critical infrastructure around the world are on the rise. This trend will continue in 2022, as will the need to accelerate global policymaking and regulatory collaboration. Governments and businesses will need to work together to create protections against complex threats, especially those that target critical infrastructure across supply chain gaps.

A strong threat prevention and response strategy is essential for all critical infrastructure. Correlating endpoint threat data helps better identify the source and spread of advanced attacks. Time-pressed security teams will benefit from technologies such as behavioral analysis and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response).

As remote workplaces become more widespread, companies will continue to deploy remote workforce management solutions such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) that will bring both security and operational efficiency. We’ll also see a lot more harmonization, or application streamlining, around the all-remote access technologies that people use, like VPNs, which can be complex to develop.

Zero Trust will become an integral part of this new security paradigm, where legitimate users will need continuous validation through strong authentication and will have selective access to the applications and services needed to do their job.

Greater reliance on digital services will usher in a new era of digital fraud, including identity theft and unauthorized data collection. The rise of open-banking and the hyper-growth of fintech, poor programming or poor security configurations at the application interface (API) level could make certain groups such as the elderly more vulnerable to fraud as new users of digital banking.

Awareness campaigns and educational programs will be key to maintaining consumer confidence and strengthening anti-fraud measures. At the same time, we will see financial institutions move to DevSecOps or a “left-hand” approach to security, which will encourage the integration of security at all stages of the software delivery process and provide end-to-end visibility into their ecosystem. of APIs.

The author is vice president and regional security manager, Asia Pacific and Japan, Palo Alto Networks