This document provides a cyber threat forecast for 2018. It discusses several types of cyber attacks that are expected to increase in 2018, including ransomware attacks, mobile app attacks, network-based attacks on hospitals, identity theft, proof of concept attacks targeting medical devices, attacks on cryptocurrencies, cyber espionage by countries like Russia and North Korea, attacks on cloud infrastructure, and cyber bullying. It also mentions the enforcement of new GDPR regulations in Europe and increased international collaboration between cybercrime fighters. The purpose is to educate organizations on cybersecurity risks and the need to implement effective cyber resilience plans.

1. CYBER THREAT FORCAST
2018
WAR AGAINST CYBER THREAT & CYBER CRIMINALS
BOLAJI JAMES BANKOLE
Cyber Forensic & Information Security Consultant
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH CERTIFIED)
Cisco Cyber Security Specialist (CCSS CERTIFIED)
Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA CERTIFIED)
Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA CERTIFIED)
Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE CERTIFIED)
Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP CERTIFIED)
CONTACT EMAIL :Bolajicisco@yahoo.com, Bolajicisco@gmail.com MOBILE +234 703 565 4727 +234 802 704 2202
CYBER THREAT FORECAST
2018
WAR AGAINST CYBER THREAT & CYBER CRIMINALS
BOLAJI JAMES BANKOLE
Cyber Forensic & Information Security Consultant
Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH CERTIFIED)
Cisco Cyber Security Specialist (CCSS CERTIFIED)
Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA CERTIFIED)
Microsoft Certified System Administrator (MCSA CERTIFIED)
Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE CERTIFIED)
Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP CERTIFIED)
CONTACT
EMAIL : Bolajicisco@gmail.com,Bolajicisco@yahoo.com.
MOBILE +234 703 565 4727 +234 802 704 2202

2. WHY CYBER THREAT FORECAST?
This is meant for educational purposes; serve as a reference point, a reminder an awakening to every
organization, business owners, decision makers, management staff, consultants, experts in the world of
cyber security.
INNEVITABLE FACTS & NUGGETS
 As long as the Cyber space still exist and the Internet is still in use, then Cyber-attack will never seize.
 Cyber Criminal will be on the increase because they keep meeting their desired TARGETS ‘which is to attack,
steal information ,cause harm, make money from the victims., that alone is enough to encourage them to
continue to attack.
 Cyber-attacks will continue to grow and only the informed and prepared will survive or experience minimal
losses.
 An effective cyber security management and awareness will go a long way in helping to mitigate Cyber risk
and cyber-attacks.
 It is pertinent to iterate that no organization will have any justifiable reason to deliberately by omission,
commission or human error to position themselves to fall victim by ignoring warnings from global cyber
security intelligence reports, cyber threat forecasts that has been shared for free on the Internet
 Every organization’s is expected to protect its assets, reputation, intellectual property, staff and customers.
 Even though cyber criminals cannot be prevented from striking none the less prepared organizations will
have skillful cyber security experts in place, have good incidence response policy and response in place, will
have a good cyber resilience program in place.
 The reception of internet of things (IoT) devices into the society has been good thus far but we are quick to
forget that emergence of internet of things (IoT) devices comes with it’s own risk which If not mitigated can
result to a disaster.
There is great expectation of targeted attacks every year since inception and 2018 is with not
exemption because the cybercriminals are not sleeping, they keep working day by day to
ensure they meet target which is to, steal, hold business to ransom, extort, cost losses as
they work in line with their source of motivation.

3. CYBER SECURITY LOVE LETTER TO ALL
To Everyone who might need this, Healthcare sector, the government, Educational sector and small businesses,
The whole world/organization/business decision makers.
CYBER RISK IS BUSINESS RISK
Almost everyone is aware and have all read about cyber-attacks in past years till date.
This is a wakeup call to ensure to put in place Cyber Security framework if it does not exist.
Make the Cyber Security Framework effective if it exist and ensure compliance.
There is a need to develop Cyber Security resilience framework so as to mitigate the company’s Cyber risk which is a
business risk.
ADDRESSING CYBER RISK THROUGH CYBER RESILIENCE
 CYBER RESILIENCE is the ability to operate the business processes in normal and adverse
scenarios without adverse outcomes. Specifically, resiliency strengthens the
firm’s ability to identify, prevent, detect and respond to process or technology failures and
recover, while reducing customer harm, reputational damage and financial loss.
RESILIENT BUSINESSES HAVE SEVERAL COMMON CHARACTERISTICS:
 Creating awareness of cyber risk at board-level this is key and inevitable.
 Development of cyber resilience plan. The planning process should include undertaking a review of
key contracts to identify the allocation of risk and responsibility; identifying critical systems, data
and services; investing in employee training; and understanding and implementing appropriate
technical measures (such as firewalls and data encryption).
 The cyber resilience plan should incorporate a data breach response plan setting out the
framework for managing a data breach. The features of an effective plan include a list of the
members of the response team; the actions and escalations to be taken in the event of a data
breach; and the procedures for determining whether to notify affected individuals.
 To become more cyber resilient, firms need to not only incorporate the front-end security, but
also More secure processes and systems, Strong controls with a strong control environment, A
solid risk culture, Digitized and automated processes, the business risk/reward decision making,
risk management and control techniques, as well as secure employee adoption
 The Regular testing and amendment will help improve the Cyber Resilience plan.

4.  Paying attention and complying with the regulatory standard without leaving any stone unturned.
 Creating cyber resiliency should span business processes and infrastructure. For example, it should include re-architecting
business processes to reduce the access, dissemination, and reliance on highly sensitive data. It should also involve re-
architecting infrastructure and systems to limit the extent of potential damage when an attack occurs or systems and
processes fail. And it may include re-working ways in which legal and liability protections are incorporated into service
agreements to prevent fraud-related losses or expenses associated with remediating impacted customers.
 It is a known fact that Experts do not have foolproof solution for cyber risks therefore it is necessary to review the existing
insurance contract so as to be sure cyber risk insurance is an appropriate investment.
 Most of the Cyber Security experts includes cover for first party losses (such as the cost of hiring technical experts to identify
and address the cause of the data breach and engaging public relations professionals to conduct reputational repair services),
Regulatory costs (such as fines or penalties, and notification and monitoring expenses) in addition to third party liability cover
for any claims arising from the data breach.

5. CYBER SECURITY FORECAST 2018: THE THREATS & TREND

7. Ultimately, improving an organization’s cyber resilience will require vigilance and preparedness at all levels of the organization, from
board members to executive management to each and every member of staff
But the threats from a cyber-event are becoming more prolific. So, although the walls are in place, the threats or activities to commit fraud or
attack a firm are evolving to evade traditional measures of protection.
Organizations cannot protect themselves at all times from the myriad of potential attacks through multiple channels. So putting in place structures,
technologies and processes to build resilience—or fast recovery—is critical to operating effectively in today’s connected world.
CYBER SECURITY LOVE LETTER TO ALL 2018
CYBER THREAT FORECAST 2018

8. CYBER THREAT FORECAST
2018
1 REGULATORY COMPLIANT The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
(Regulation (EU) 2016/679) is a regulation by which the European Parliament, the Council of the
European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all
individuals within the European Union (EU).
This year 2018 the GDPR will enforce larger penalties for both breaches of personal data and breaches
of meeting GDPR obligations.
A lot of companies that are not complaint will get very busy to adapt and improve existing processes and
procedures in time to meet the May deadline.
ATTACKs
2. RANSOMEWARE ATTACK Every organization that fails to Implement & enforce the complaint of a
cyber-security policies is likely to get attacked by ransomware , the persistence of Cerber and outbreaks
of WannaCry and Petya (also known as NotPetya, since it was a variant of the original but with new
behaviors). Looking at the raw numbers, WannaCry bested Cerber as the most pervasive &prolific
ransomware family, remaining active since its initial outbreak in mid-May.
There is a need for companies that develop software’s to have & Improve the company’s software life
cycle development process so to reduce the risk of attackers infiltrating the codes.They cybercriminal will
keep looking out for loop holes like the known systems vulnerability, lack of effective patch
management/systems this exploit will lead to breach of data and will be used as a means of spreading
ransom ware.
The malware we protect our customers from transcends operating systems, Ransomware in particular
targets Android, Mac, Windows and Linux users alike. (Android phones run a modified version of Linux.
There is a need to focus heavily on breach and incident readiness which is why organization should have a
Cyber Resilience. Plan.

9. 3. MOBILE APP ATTACK This year 2018 there will be a rapid primary vector of attack on
mobile applications particularly via the mobile or desktop that control them .The attack will be
on the increase in such a way that it will outpace the adoption of security practices that can
prevent or mitigate damage.
4. NETWORK-BASED ATTACK This year 2018 there will be several attacks against hospitals
and other clinical settings, the network-based attack is an attack to look out for as it will be
lunched against unsecured or easily compromised vast amounts of data in the medical industry
.same will be on the rise this year.
5. IDENTITY THEFT ATTACK This year 2018 there will be theft of individual medical data,
identity theft should be expected whilst there will be extortion.
6. PROOF OF CONCEPT ATTACK This year 2018 proof of concept attack will be on the rise
against devices that are not monitored, Cyber criminals will cause damage& make profit from
it. Attacks against implantable devices will continue, particularly devices like insulin pumps and
pacemakers – while device manufacturers in this area will likely be increasingly rolling out
security to protect against threats
7. CYBERCRIMINALS WILL UNLEASH ATTACK ON CRYPTO CURRENCIES There is a lot of
interest in crypto currency which is gaining recognition all over the world today. This crypto
currency push will motivate crooks to initiate fraudulent activities against virtual currency scheme.
Cyber criminals will continue to use malware to steal funds from victims’ computers or to deploy
hidden mining tools on machines. A growing number of websites will be compromised to host miner
scripts used to monetize the computational capability of the visitors. Cyber criminals will steal
crypto coin from users.
8. CYBER ESPONIONAGE ATTACK Cyber Espionage attack will be on the rise this year 2018 as
Russia will continue to target western entities, The State-sponsored hacker groups from both North
Korea will also launch attacks this year more countries of the world will be affected and attacked.
9. ATTACK ON CLOUD SECYRITY INFRASTRUCTURE This year 2018 Cloud infrastructures will
experience security breaches because cyber criminals now have interest in cloud storage
Infrastructure, they seem motivated by the profit thy can make from their victim.There is going to
be an increase in state-sponsored attacks and I see that they will take advantage of any one who
will fall victim and make as much profit as possible from them.

10. 10. INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION OF CYBERCRIME FIGTERS This year 2018 There is
going to be an increase in cyber awareness all over the world because cyber security experts now
sees the need to collaborate effort Internationally to work with law enforcement agencies
worldwide to ensure they give support as they work towards dismantling cybercriminal gangs
across the world.
11. CYBER BULLYING ON THE RISE This year 2018 there will be a rise in Cyber Bullying .
Teenagers are the most exposed to this practice, and the number of victims will dramatically
increase despite the numerous initiatives of the authorities worldwide. States will promote new
campaigns to prevent these phenomena and provide a high response to this cruel cybercrime.