What to look out for in cybercrime in 2021? New report has some answers

• Date: 06 December 2020
• Author: ABIGAIL ADLER
• Published date: 06 December 2020
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

ESET's new report, "Trends in Information Security 2021: Confidence in a Time of Uncertainty" reveals four main challenges expected to affect consumers and businesses in 2021.

Trend 1: Accepting a new reality at work

Coronavirus has led to remote work, which relies on technology more than ever before. Working from home has partly benefited employees, however, it has also left corporate networks and organizations more vulnerable to attack.

ESET's Security Specialist, Jake Moore, commented that "we have all learned that teleworking can benefit organizations; however, I do not think we will continue to work remotely five days a week in the future. As more and more of our work and home life goes digital, cybersecurity will remain the key to safe business and continuous work.

Trend 2: Ransom with a twist - pay or data will be leaked

Hackers behind ransomware attacks want to find more ways to force victims to pay through intimidation, so the threat for those attacked increases significantly. Extortion and threats may not be new techniques, but they are certainly growing trends.

ESET reported that "companies are becoming smarter, implementing additional technologies that thwart attacks and create flexible backup and recovery processes, so bad actors need another plan of action to be able to succeed.

Additionally, ESET anticipates that "thwarted attacks and backup and recovery processes may no longer be sufficient to repel a cyber criminal who demands ransom payment. A new threat technique offers cybercriminals a greater chance of return on investment. This is a trend that we will unfortunately see in 2021. "

Trend 3: Cyber threats are changing

In recent years, hackers have resorted to using more complex techniques to launch more targeted attacks. The information security community has started talking about "file-free malware," which uses the tools and processes of the operating system and leverages them for malicious purposes. These techniques...