Alarm bells rang louder in 2017 when cyberattacks went overdrive and closer to home when WannaCry a ramsonware threat was unleashed affecting many across the globe including Malaysians. As more of us rely on the internet and be connected to do work, the exposure to such attacks is imminent.
Trend Micro in its annual report, predicts cyberattacks will continue to plague businesses this year, with major breaches occurring due to existing vulnerabilities. As corporate “attack surfaces” (points within an infrastructure where an attacker could attempt to access internal networks from the outside) expand and more entry points are exposed, the security solution provider sees patch management and employee education should be prioritised to protect an organization’s critical data.
In Malaysia, a predicted IT spend of to RM65.2 billion in 2018 is excepted with increased connectivity continues to place enterprises at risk of manipulation and give new opportunities for cybercriminals to penetrate corporate networks.
Trend Micro believes many devastating cyberattacks leveraged known vulnerabilities that could have been prevented had they been patched beforehand. This trend will continue in 2018 as more local enterprises expanding their network connectivity, potentially increasing their exposure to vulnerabilities.
Be Wary
Predicting for the year on, ransomware will still be cybercrime mainstay, with internet users in the country rise to 23.41 million by 2020 online best practises should be observed. Like avoiding opening unverified emails and links embedded and regularly updating software and applications can reduce risk of getting infected.
“We at Trend Micro are constantly scouting out future threats that will have the greatest impact for businesses, and we predict which vulnerabilities will make the biggest waves in the coming year,” said Mr. Goh Chee Hoh, Managing Director, Trend Micro Malaysia.
On the business front, BEC or Business Email Compromise scams is expected to exceed US$9 billion this year. This form of attack can be averted, if IT personnel stay on top of and apply security updates in a timely manner. Additionally, employee training and strict protocols on internal processes need to be also implemented.
With IOT economy in Malaysia set to reach RM9.5 billion in GNI creation by 2020 announced by MOSTI, cybercriminals will find new ways to abuse the IoT devices for their own gain. This means that corporations and individuals will see new security challenges from the increased adoption of these new technologies. Baseline security measure for IoT threats include changing default passwords, implementing strong authentication measures as well as ensuring routers are secure, as wireless connections have been found to be vulnerable.
