We are down for a few weeks before 2018 ends, and technology trends today can give us a glimpse of what 2019 has to offer from the standpoint of Cybersecurity and IT security defense. Here are some of our cybersecurity predictions for 2019 and beyond in no particular order:

The redefinition of CIO/CTO
Today, the board-of-directors only have three goals in mind: Profit, profit, and profit. Any expenses incurred by the business should at the end of the day end-up to just one result, profit. All business adjustments in the mid-year can only be done in a jiffy if the reason behind the sudden change is more profit. That corporate mentality is really changing, very fast and very viral. Businesses will understand that relevance in the marketplace means remaining unhacked, as bad PR kills business and future opportunities. The used to be “cost-center” role of the CIO or a CTO is being phased out, as they are starting to be seen the knight in shining armor of an organization. The moment news about becoming a victim of a data breach, system hack or virus infection inside the organization leaked into the public sphere, it guarantees destroyed customer confidence if not the business losing its market share to a fatal level. In 2019, the growth of the responsibility of CIO and CTO are seen to accelerate, as companies face their responsibility of remaining as unhacked.

The growth of IoT-powered DDoS
Internet-of-Things are simple appliances with an Internet connection. Unlike the complex gadgets we have for computing (PC, smartphones, and tablets), IoT cannot host an antimalware software, as the complexity of such software cannot be handled by the low system resources of an IoT device. As more IoT devices are released in the market, the larger the target will be for the cybercriminals and this trend is seen to continue well beyond 2019. But there is home, as both Microsoft’s Asure Sphere OS and Android Things are set to depose the proprietary systems employed with current IoT devices, creating a much friendlier ecosystem with enough resources to host antimalware from the cloud. Big changes are happening weekly in this space, so continue monitoring for progress.

The nightmare of legacy system maintenance
Legacy systems are being phased out in order to lessen attack vectors. It has started across the industry, many Linux distributions stopped releasing 32-bit editions of their OS and same goes with Windows, as 32-bit versions are becoming rarer and rarer. The pattern has been set by both MacOS and iOS that have become a complete 64-bit only operating systems for quite a while. There will be a market of legacy system support, and people knowing how to administrate and maintain them will have a huge leverage compared to those that exclusively skilled only with 64-bit systems.

Hackers love IoT’s
Due to lack of adequate cybersecurity defense, cybercriminals love IoT. The moment outsiders have taken-over, it is very difficult to detect, let alone disinfect. This trend will continue even beyond 2019.

Changing security culture artificially created by GDPR and similar IT security legislation
Whether we like it or not, GDPR in Europe and cybersecurity legislation work. The idea of being hacked, virus infected and customer record stolen is a huge nightmare already for companies, and facing a huge hefty penalty from government regulators are added cost many cannot afford. A hacked company, with its destroyed reputation and brand, slapped with a hefty penalty in millions or not billions of dollars is not something a company officer wants to see. But for better or for worse, it is good for the consumers, it gives a lot of peace of mind in the process.

If we can’t penetrate your computer, we’ll just take over your router
2018 saw the rise of VPNFilter, the notorious malware that infects not the PCs but the home routers. Being a commodity product, an attractive attack vector is open and vendors are very slow in dealing with a hijacked router. Being a set it and forget it device, it is one of the last hardware a user expect to update.

Cloud-service saturation while remaining insecure
The saturation of the cloud storage market promotes the possibility of people choosing a wrong product, for the wrong price and for the wrong reason. Not all cloud storage services are created equal, some cuts cost at the expense of less security and privacy for the end-user. This trend is seen to continue for 2019 and beyond, and no possibility of reversal is seen.

It’s not just the rogue states, democratic states are in cyber espionage too, and more espionage are coming
The western media always hype the activities of Lazarus, the infamous hacker group of the North Korean regime. But it is through the revelation of Edward Snowden, the whole world knows that the United States have better technology, understanding and drive to actually archive the world for its information, yes including our personally identifiable information of all of us that uses the web. This is the “new normal”, hence we should stop the paranoia of being victims of espionage of rogue states, even the non-rogue states are doing the same.

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