The top five trends of InfoSec 2017

The top five trends of information security in 2017

Information security which is also known as infosec is a collection of strategies which helps to manage the processes, polices and tools which are necessary to prevent, detect, document and counter threats to digital and non-digital information. This is an essential priority for companies to find new ways to circumvent network defenses, steal account credentials and held information hostage. According to the McAfee Lab security report 2016, more than 71 million unwanted programs have attempted to launch themselves on a user device every single day. Based on those threats the information security trends have been modified in 2017. This article talks about the top 5 information security trends in 2017.

The first trend of information security is Ransomware of Things which is also known as ‘RoT’. RoT is the new trick used by the hackers in 2017, to steal control of functions which belongs to internet-connected small devices. Attackers take control of internet connected devices in smaller scale and hold the functions of those devices under their hostage. You might think this is not a huge risk when it comes to a large number of monitoring tools or sensors. Imagine a situation when attackers breach the entire network of an organization and take the control of key manufacturing sensors under their control. The whole manufacturing process will crash. By monitoring suspicious network behavior and changing username-password combinations frequently of these devices, will help to secure the systems from RoT attacks.

Device Targeting is the second trend of information security in 2017. Attackers often use devices such as routers and printers as their path to gain network access. But in 2017 attackers have focused more on consumer based devices. Any device that can be categorized under smart technology from refrigerators to wearable devices can be locked by the attackers to compel victim action. The victim will be unable to ignore the threat when considering about privacy and the value of information held by the attackers.

The next trend is Vulnerabilities. Do you think the methods which are used to find and patch vulnerabilities are getting better day by day? The answer is no. The total number of vulnerabilities is declining since 2014 but the number of vulnerabilities which are listed as critical is rising day by day. In 2016 forty percent from the total vulnerabilities belongs to vulnerabilities which are listed as critical. This forty percent does not include all cases since some companies refrain from sharing their cyber security data.

Crime as a service which means that attackers now have started to organize, organizational hierarchies which offer crime as a service. The advantage the information security teams had was they shared their hard work among others and hackers had no interest in that. But now the attackers have realized the value of sharing and selling their knowledge in Dark Web marketplaces. The solution is simple, companies have to share their InfoSec information rather than pretending they don’t experience any issues.

The Coming skill shortage is the next trend. There are more than one million InfoSec jobs vacant in the present world. Now there are courses which encourage university students to rethink about a career in information security. However the attacks in 2017 are more direct according to the Network world. Hence the need for InfoSec professionals will increase day by day.

            Though 2017 has almost come to an end the threats still remain. Companies are advised to share their InfoSec information in order to defend from these issues and to beware of their InfoSec processes.