Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019. Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Mounir Hahad, head of Juniper Threat Labs at Juniper Networks
Securing Privacy in the Federal Space
In 2018, we started to see new federal regulations like GDPR
take center stage, forcing organizations to reevaluate their business and
security strategies while dealing with the repercussions of several high
profile cyberattacks and data breaches. In the new year, we can expect to see
privacy become an even higher priority for both enterprises and the federal
government as already strapped security teams continue to confront an evolving
and sophisticated threat landscape.
Changes in Privacy will Continue to Make Waves
2018 was all about GDPR and the ramifications this change in
European data regulations would have on how organizations conducted business
globally. In 2019, privacy will continue to be an area of focus for the global
market, as new regulations such as ePrivacy start to be fleshed out and
additional regions such as the US look to implement their own data privacy
laws, all of which could have global financial impact. 2019 will also be the
year that many large non-European players will come to grips with the
ramifications of GDPR as it is put into practice.
Cryptojacking Rises 10-fold in 2019
Cryptojacking isn't going anywhere anytime soon - quite the
opposite actually. Attackers are switching away from malvertising and instead
embracing cryptojacking. 2018 saw a significant rise in cryptojacking, but the
tactic hasn't yet received the same level of notoriety as prior well-known
hacking efforts such as ransomware or DDoS. In 2019, we can expect to see
cryptojacking's popularity rise and fall correlating with Monero and Ethereum
prices as well as browser-based cryptomining on legitimate websites take on a
more serious form.
Impending 2020 Census Leads to Cyber Risk
In 2020, the US census will be conducted online
for the first time. As the U.S. begins to gear up for this once-in-a-decade
survey, it will need to work proactively to address possible cyber risks before
releasing the census to the public. If cyberattackers were able to successfully
target the census and manipulate the data, it could have major repercussions
for critical areas of public relevance such as divvying up seats in Congress and
state legislatures, dispersing federal and state funding, planning for Social
Security and more. In 2019, we will see how the US plans to address this new
approach and ensure the important data they are collecting is not tampered
with. We also will likely see a few attempts by state sponsored threat actors
to infiltrate the process and tools early on in the supply chain.
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About the Author
Mounir Hahad, head of
Juniper Threat Labs at Juniper Networks, is a seasoned cybersecurity expert
focused on malware research, detection techniques and threat intelligence. He
leads Juniper Threat Labs, the organization at Juniper Networks identifying and
tracking malicious threats in the wild and ensuring Juniper products implement
effective detection techniques and have access to the latest threat
intelligence needed to block malicious attacks. Prior to joining Juniper,
Mounir was the head of Cyphort Labs and has held various leadership roles with
Cisco and IronPort.