2019, a difficult year for security

As this 2019 comes to a close, it is incumbent upon us to take stock of critical issues in the world of Information Technology with regard to security. Not an easy task, because in these twelve months we have gone from the discovery of vulnerabilities in the processors of computers and smartphones that paved the way for cyber attacks, to bugs in the most popular operating systems, which too often showed the side of security flaws capable of putting users’ data at risk. Unfortunately, the situation regarding malware is the worst: according to industry analysts, about 20 percent of computers were subjected to at least one attack during the year. In the most recent reports, the overall situation compared to 2018 sees a 13.7 percent growth in pitfalls with a considerable increase in web skimmers. If cloning of ATMs and credit cards used to be a procedure that took place physically when we handed over the card for a payment, or by introducing it into an ATM cleverly modified by fraudsters, now we are increasingly talking about online skimming, a form of fraud that goes into action when entering payment data on bogus sites, or on official sites compromised by malware capable of stealing credit card information. In this case, to defend yourself, it is always advisable to use payment services that allow the transaction to take place only after entering an authentication code received via SMS or through a special app. As far as we are concerned, Italy has also been in the eye of the storm of cyber attacks, so much so that according to research by Trend Micro it is ranked fourth on the list of nations most affected by cyber threats. Unfortunately, 2019 has also been the year of ransomware, or computer virus attacks that render data inaccessible on infected computers and demand ransom payments to restore them. Here, globally there was a 60 percent increase in cases compared to 2018, with Italy ranked 12th in the first half of the year.

Always update!

One fact to highlight, highlighted by research from Ponemon (an independent data protection research institute), is that although security investments have increased in the enterprise environment, cyberattacks have increased considerably compared to 2018. Unfortunately, the report shows that about 60 percent of breaches exploited vulnerabilities for which patches were already available. It is therefore clear that it is always necessary to keep software up-to-date and, if the corporate structure is not best organized for these tasks, to rely on external companies specializing in cybersecurity.

The insidiousness even in entertainment

The latest trend for this 2019 concerns entertainment. More and more people are seeking free access to the latest movie releases often by violating the copyright of the content and downloading movies from the Internet. This trend is creating easy opportunities for cyber criminals, both in terms of illegal video streaming and .torrent files, which can host malicious files, hidden in the form of files bearing the names of famous movies. Not only that, according to a recent Kaspersky Lab analysis, cyber criminals have exploited the hype generated by the latest episode of the “Star Wars” saga, recently released in theaters, to launch malware attacks, this time masquerading as official websites promising movie rentals. These websites are able to collect credit card data, entered by unwary users, after the registration request for access.

Trends for 2020

From a cybersecurity perspective, of course, we are all hoping for a better 2020, but we will still have to be careful. According to analysts, phishing activities to steal our data are becoming more and more sophisticated, partly due to the use of social networks, so as to convince potential “victims” to provide personal data and information more easily. Businesses and government agencies will have to do their best and turn to specialists in the field, such as the HyperGrid team, to protect themselves from possible attacks. Corporate users are considered to be the weakest link in the line of defense against cyber attacks, which is why they will continue to be targeted with increasingly targeted attacks in order to easily break into a company’s network by obtaining login credentials. Trends also indicate that malware for smartphones will be increasingly prevalent: in this case the best element of security is us, perhaps by following the advice given in this link.

For this 2019 all of us on the HyperGrid team just have to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2020. Happy Holidays!