The last two years have created an opportune environment for bad actors ensuring the Cyberdemic will continue into 2022.
As we continue to migrate our lives into the digital world with remote workforces and comfort we increase cybercriminals’ opportunity for attack. This year we have seen a significant shift in the focused attacks on supply chains, home networks, and a gigantic increase in healthcare breaches.
In its latest Data Breach Industry Forecast released Monday, Experian has 5 predictions that underscore the ongoing impact of the pandemic on cybersecurity. Criminals will continue to focus on the remote workforce, the healthcare system, and will begin to narrow their targets to exploit the weakest technologies.
5 Breach Trends for 2022
- Remote Workforce
Those working from home will certainly be targets for those looking to hack into your business. According to the report, home wireless networks are more vulnerable than business VPN’s. Businesses will need to focus on securing employee connections and education. - Infrastructure
Biden’s infrastructure bill and the trillions of dollars approved by Congress will be a target. Electrical grids, dams, and transportation networks will be heavily targeted by foreign and domestic cybercriminals. Criminals will likely be looking to target funds at disbursement by using phishing and CEO fraud. - Digital Assets
Cryptocurrencies and NFT’s (Non-Fungible Tokens)– will become greater targets for hackers as they gain more popularity. As we begin to understand and accept these assets as normal and useful, so will the criminals. Chances are, they are just waiting to realize their worth and inevitability. - Natural Disasters
Natural disasters often bring out the best in those doing their best to help. People will donate to organizations that aim to give aid and help those who have been affected. Criminals will take advantage of our distress and target charitable giving by phishing and masking themselves as the organizations we trust. To complicate things further, supply chains will be broken and unreliable, making important emergency goods difficult to source… another vulnerability that hackers will exploit. - Gambling
As more and more states are legalizing gambling, phishing scams will target the growing online gambling community. Common scams will include stolen credit card information, account hijacking, or creating sites that appear to be legitimate casinos.
The Identity Theft Resource Center reports that there have been 1,291 breaches in 2021 as of September. There were 1,108 in all of 2020, which is a 17% increase in just three quarters of the year.
The past two years have caused so many disruptions in our way of living and working but we need to increase our personal and professional focus on privacy. As a result, the Pandemic has created an abundance of opportunities ensuring the Cyberdemic will continue into 2022.
