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Highlights
- Australia faced a complex cyber threat environment during the pandemic.
- With more and more dependency on artificial intelligence and other IT tools cyber threats are becoming more frequent.
- The Australian Cyber Security Centre reported nearly 160 ransomware cases during FY20-FY21.
As the world has transitioned into a new normal, cybercrimes are becoming more and more frequent with sophisticated tactics. With increasing in number of cybercrimes, companies worldwide are struggling to keep their critical data safe.
For example, recently, the web hosting giant – GoDaddy reported a security incident affecting managed WordPress service. In an SEC filing on 17 November, the company said that it had discovered unauthorised third-party access to its Managed WordPress hosting environment, warning over 1.2 million users.
The company reported that the original WordPress Admin password, which was set during provisioning, and SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) and database usernames and passwords for the active customers were exposed.
Image source: © Anoucketbenoit | Megapixl.com
What are the new cybersecurity trends?
If big companies like GoDaddy can also go through cybercrimes, it becomes important to know what the recent and innovative ways are of conducting these crimes. Let’s have a look at some new cybersecurity trends-
Evolution of Internet of Things (IoT)
The expanding IoT is creating more cybercrime opportunities. Experts have estimated around 64 billion IoT devices worldwide by 2026. Furthermore, most IoT devices have lesser storage capabilities, making it hard to employ antivirus, firewalls, and other related security applications. As a result, IoT attacks have been trending all over the world.
Rise in Ransomware
Although ransomware is not a new term, it’s a growing cyber threat around the world. For example, during FY2020-21, Australians faced a complex cyber threat environment, where the ransomware cases increased to nearly 160, as per the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). Ransomware made history in cyberattacks, contributing to the first reported death in 2020.
RELATED READ – What is Ransomware & How to Stop Such Attacks?
The continuous rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI or artificial intelligence is being highly adopted by various businesses, as AI has been foremost in building automated security systems and automatic threat detection and related technologies. However, while it provides more robust threat detection techniques, hackers are also taking its full advantage for automating their attacks using techniques like – model-stealing.
Increasing cloud-based services
With the new remote working era, cloud vulnerability has remained one of the biggest cyber threats. Misconfigured cloud settings are the major cause of data breaches, along with other dangerous cyberattacks.
RELATED READ – ASX cybersecurity stocks for 2022
Apart from this, it’s also essential to know that each data breach costs around US$3.86 million to the organisations. As a result, many companies in this domain have been expanding their business. For example, on 22 November, the ASX listed Sovereign Cloud Holdings Ltd (ASX:SOV) announced to raise AU$35 million capital, comprising a placement to NEXTDC Limited (ASX: NXT). As per SOV’s recent investor report, the company has spent AU$1.35 billion on Proposed Australian Government cybersecurity
What are the growing cybersecurity trends in Australia?
Bottom line-
As the world moves towards a digital age of more robust AI, IoT and other advanced technologies, cybercrimes are likely to continue with more advanced technologies. Moreover, attackers have been targeting almost every sector, which increased even more during the pandemic. Hence, organisations and individuals must keep track of their critical data.
