Cybersecurity

Cyber Trends and Threats – A Review of 2018 and Expectations for 2019

2018 has begun with a recovery from the events of 2017 such as WannaCry, Petya, and the information leak from Equifax – an event that preoccupied the industry throughout 2018 and will serve the negative model for cyber crisis management.
2018 has brought with it new events and consequent threats. One of the worst events of the year in cyber security was the hacking of the Marriott chain after purchasing Starwood and the exposure of personal information of over 500 million customers, an event that was spread onto four years.
Alongside information leaks that were the result of hackers’ malintent, 2018 had also other reasons for cyber security breaches. It had processes where sensitive information was exposed as a result of error or negligence, usually events of data mobility like the transference of infrastructure and data to cloud servers, decentralization, operating advanced interfaces (API), etc. In this category we could recall the exposure of Exactis’ database, and the event of personal information exposure on Twitter, resulting from improper data security procedures.
In 2018, which was expected to be the year where privacy regulations would advance both locally and globally, including GDRP, we were acquainted with much unauthorized and improper sharing of information through social media to third party companies (such as Facebook and its cooperation with Cambridge Analytics). Information breaches have increased in cloud servers because of the data’s availability, but the same migration of information had drawn hostile agents anywhere it was to be found, while hackers have focused in places where accessibility to info was highest. This was especially prevalent in digital and mobile applications.