Cybersecurity predictions for 2016

One of the most challenging aspects of cybersecurity is staying in front of the newest security issues — some of which seem to change on a daily basis. To foreshadow some of these changes, the following provides a summary of some reputable predictions for the upcoming year. 

The predictions continue to reinforce that having a plan in place to deal with breaches is the best way for a company to defend itself against potential problems. Taking the initial planning steps is so important because the issue is when — not if — a business will be the subject of a cybersecurity attack. 

“Cybersecurity predictions for 2016” from USA Today  

• “As more and more data migrates to the cloud, hackers will focus their attention on infiltrating the cloud.”
• “Small and medium size businesses will become increasingly targeted for data breaches that can be exploited for purposes of identity theft as they become perceived as the low hanging fruit for cybercriminals.”

“6 cybercrime predictions for 2016” from Columbus Business First

• “Information sharing will increase: As cybercrime continues to grow, information sharing about those threats within and across industries will also grow to combat those cybercriminals. This is in part due to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which recently passed in the U.S. Senate and will enable businesses to share cyber threat data with the government in an effort to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks.”

“2016 Corporate Crisis Outlook: Much More of the Same” from The Huffington Post

• “Cybercrime will worsen as criminals get more sophisticated....As cyber criminals become even more sophisticated, security experts warn of increased attacks against Web frameworks, such as WordPress, and Web-performance and analytics networks, such as Optimizely, as well as against virtualization technology used more frequently at home and in small offices.  Expect more companies and organizations that spend huge amounts on computer security to not forget the trees for the forest. In other words, IT organizations will spend much more time looking for the simple entry points to their networks that may interest cyber crooks. It was the failure of JPMorgan Chase to install a simple security fix to an overlooked server in its vast network that triggered the largest intrusion of an American bank to date in mid-2014.”