# #vectorsynergy #cybersecurity #fakenews #cybersecurityreport #cybersecuritytrends #keepyourpeopleprepared

1. 5 MAIN TRENDS
IN CYBER SECURITY
FOR
2020

2. INTRODUCTION
We are presenting five trends in cyber security,
which we have identified as the most important
in begun year.
The identified trends present that changes
in the area of security are always an evolution,
not a revolution. The one revolutionary trend is the
implementation of 5G technology with all its
consequences. However, even in this context it
is difficult to talk about completely new
categories of security problems. Digital espionage
or the 'childhood diseases' of the new standard
are issues that might have been expected as they
concern every innovative technology.
The selected trends show the slow improvement
of the successful activities of cybercriminals.
Ransomware has been around for several years.
Recently, a tendency to concentrate such attacks
on entities that are more willing to pay the
ransom than to accept the loss of data (e.g.
hospitals) has been observed. There has also
appeared a variant of ransomware attack, which
threatens the victims with publication of
compromising materials instead of losing access
to data.
Similar improvements of sinister actions are
visible in the case of manipulation of electoral
information and phishing. Here, a trend towards
improving the quality of processed materials
using machine learning techniques is visible.
Not all trends mean making IT security specialists’
life more complicated. Cloud computing,
perceived initially with a great mistrust, can
increase the security of a company. Replacing
conventional, difficult to maintain for IT
specialists, applications with cloud solutions
protected by large security teams can be
profitable. Cloud computing also provides
opportunities to create better quality security
training solutions and to scale them according
to a demand.
Enjoy the reading.
KRYSTIAN PIWOWARCZYK
CDEX CTO

3. 01
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CONTINOUS INCREASE IN RANSOMWARE
ATTACKS THREAT
ELECTORAL DATA MANIPULATION
THREATS (AND OPPORTUNITIES) OF CLOUD COMPUTING
MASS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 5G STANDARD
INCREASE IN PHISHING ATTACKS
TABLE OF CONTENTS

4. Cybercriminals will likely move
beyond DoS attacks to
exploiting vulnerabilities, much
like the BlueKeep attacks where
hackers were able to use the
BlueKeep exploit to hack into
unpatched Windows systems to
install a cryptocurrency miner.
Healthcare providers and school
districts are particularly vulnerable
to ransomware threats as they
often run outdated software and
do not have adequate
cybersecurity resources. These
entities often have no choice but
to pay the ransom to keep vital
services running which encourages
the attackers even more. A new
trend among the attacks is
demanding ransom for not
publishing confidential data
on public services rather than
regaining access to them.
TRENDS 2020
CONTINOUS INCREASE IN
RANSOMWARE ATTACKS THREAT
Security experts will face
ransomware attacks more often.
This tendency is growing since
the infamous WannaCry incident
in 2017. A CNN article reported
that over 140 local governments,
police stations and hospitals
were held hostage by
ransomware attacks in 2019.
Cities as large as Baltimore and
New Orleans became
victims to such attacks.
According to Cybersecurity
Ventures until the end of
2020 ransomware attacks will
have taken place every 14
seconds and in 2021
every 11 seconds.
The form of attacks is evolving,
so that they can bypass most of
the conventional and
sophisticated solutions like
antivirus, firewalls,
and enterprise-level EDR.
CYBER SECURITY

5. They will first target presidential
candidates but will spread
to members of congress
and celebrities which will cause
confusion on the Internet. That’s
what the attackers want - to
cause social unrest and tension
by spreading the belief that there
has been manipulation, even if
the actual number of votes cast
for the candidates would
not be manipulated in any way.
This type of action
may also intensify in other
countries where elections will be
held this year: in Poland, France,
Taiwan and South Korea.
ELECTORAL DATA MANIPULATION
One of the most important events
in the world politics in 2020 is
the presidential election in the
US. In cybersecurity it means an
increase in criminal activities,
what was particularly visible
during presidential campaign in
the US in 2016.
Social media were flooded by
false stories and an alleged
violation of the state electoral
systems. Experts claim that
during this year’s elections state
and local databases and on-line
voting systems may become
victims to attacks. Social media
will be awash in fake news,
especially professionally made,
hard to distinguish from reliable
sources, deep fake videos aimed
at misleading voters.
TRENDS 2020CYBER SECURITY

6. According to researchers from
WatchGuard Technologies attacks
will be especially focused on the
medical sector and key
services which cannot afford
even the shortest downtime, such
as the energy, water and sewage
industry.
An opportunity for many
enterprises, including cyber
security departments, is the
increasing use of cloud computing
in the training area. The flexibility
of place and time of the training
creates favourable conditions that
employees are more willing to use.
This trend is favourable
from the perspective of the high
demand for highly qualified
IT security specialists.
THREATS (AND OPPORTUNITIES)
OF CLOUD COMPUTING
The trend of migrating from data
centres to cloud solutions, which
has been observed for several
years, will intensify
among both companies
and institutions. However
those changes do not coincide
with an increase in awareness
of adequate security. The quality
of configuration of network
devices and application servers
creates the risk of significant
leaks of critical data. According
to forecasts, IT security
specialists will have to face
more frequent phishing attacks
targeting cloud resources.
Important for preventing them
is focusing on securing email
services, as well as removing
potentially useful information
(e.g. API keys) in planning
an attack from the network.
Ransomware attacks that target
data stored in the cloud
may also increase.
TRENDS 2020CYBER SECURITY

7. TRENDS 2020
MASSIVE 5G IMPLEMENTATION
The 5G technology gives a wide
range of possibilities to create
completely new solutions, based
on the ability to transfer huge
amounts of data at low
latency. Companies that win
contracts to implement the 5G
technology in the world’s largest
countries can count on lucrative
cooperation. These struggles
have been visible for several years
now and have grown to the rank
of political confrontation. The
introduction of the 5G standard
is associated not only with
opportunities for the progress of
civilization, but also with
threats. The most
obvious risk is the release of
solutions with an unconfirmed
level of security. The risk
increases when solutions come
from suppliers who may be
subject to pressure from rival
countries. That mistrust is hardly
surprising. Secret access to
communication between citizens
of neighbouring countries is a real
‘Holy Grail’ of any intelligence
agency. Other threats are also
worth mentioning. The rush to
implement the 5G technology may
result in a number of ‘childhood
diseases’ at an early stage, which
in the area of cybersecurity will
mean the mass disclosure of
common vulnerabilities related
to a defective implementation (e.g.
DoS, jamming, spoofing, session
hijacking, data leakage). It cannot
be omitted that several completely
new security error classes are
created, exclusively related to the
5G standard. For this reason, at the
early stage of the 5G technology
implementation, it is extremely
important to conduct security
tests of solutions incorporating
the 5G standard.
Firstly, to exclude the possibility of
unauthorised access by adversaries
and secondly, to ensure that the
appliances used guarantee
a sufficient level of security.
CYBER SECURITY

8. TRENDS 2020
INCREASE IN PHISHING ATTACKS
A recent report by Europol found
that spear phishing is currently
the most frequent on EU
companies. This tendency will
continue. Microsoft predicts more
than double the number of
phishing attacks in 2020
compared to last year. The
most commonly used medium in
this type of attack is e-mail (at
least one in 99 e-mails is
currently an attack attempt,
often containing malware). The
use of voice calls (vishing) and
text messages (smishing) by
hackers is also increasing. Attacks
are becoming more and more
sophisticated and adapted to
authentic communication in the
company, and thus even more
difficult to detect. Social
networking sites are increasingly
becoming
the preferred channel of
communication with victims, due
to the growing use of this form of
communication by society.
As always, cybercriminals try to
reach a large number of potential
victims, but it is the increase in the
quality of messages prepared for
victims that ensures
their success. Popularization of
deep fake and techniques used
in its creation will certainly lead to
an increased interest in vishing
due to the increase in the
effectiveness of materials prepared
thanks to these techniques.
CYBER SECURITY

9. TRENDS 2020
Every 14 seconds in 2020
there are ransomware
attacks globally
14S 11.20
November 2020 is when
presidential election in the US
will have place, as well as
expected increase of fake news
5G
Availability of 5G network brings
new threats – among others
massive DDoS attacks
1/99
At least one in 99 e-mails
in 2020 is a phishing attack
attempt
A massive migration of data
to cloud solutions leads to new
opportunities and threats
for IT security
CLOUD
CYBER SECURITY

10. CDeX Team
www.cdex.cloud
PREPARED BY:
TRENDS 2020CYBER SECURITY
Keep your people prepared