Crossroads Blog | Institute National Security and Counterterrorism

China, Current Affairs, Cyber Attacks

Cyber Round Up: New year, new trends; US DOJ says Chinese Cyber-Espionage National Security Emergency; Ukraine to review Cyber Defenses

  • New year, new trends in cybersecurity (ITProPortal): Mike Turner reports that while 2015 may have been the year that cyberattacks and cybersecurity went mainstream, there is plenty more in store for 2016.  According to the article there are six key areas to watch in the coming year:

Insecure digital services: as consumers and enterprises continue to adopt digital services it is paramount that security measures are baked in from design, inception, throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC);

Internet of Things (IoT): as the devices and capabilities expand further and further into everyday life, IoT providers have to ensure security is a fundamental, foundational element of their devices because the risk of not doing so is far too great.  With the IoT devices that were once standalone are suddenly thrust into the fabric of connectivity and manufacturers are going to have to adopt new thought processes to ensure that data and privacy concerns are addressed;

Artificial Intelligence (AI): threat analysis, detection, and modeling all lend themselves to AI.  It is therefore likely that we will continue to leverage AI in order to reduce manual efforts and to ensure quicker and more efficient responses;

Movement away from password authentication: single-factor authentication is on the way out as organizations look to multi-factor authentication in order to bolster their defenses and ensure that proper access and authorization occurs;

Combating ransomware: cybercriminals have discovered that ransomware is a lucrative endeavour, consequently security professionals will need to focus on prevening ransomware in order to maintain control of their data and to avoid either paying ransom or being forced to report a breach;

Safe Harbor: understanding how companies can meet EU compliance mandates while doing business globally is going to force many technology companies to rethink their business operations.

According to the article, the full text of which can be found here.

  • US DOJ says Chinese Cyber-Espionage is a National Security Emergency (Gizmodo): According to this article, John Carlin, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security stated that Chinese economic espionage is a serious threat to our national security.  The article states that business leaders, government officials, and security experts believe that China has facilitated a coordinated and sophisticated attack targeting the intellectual property of thousands of companies. The full article can be found here.

 

  • Ukraine to review Cyber defenses (Reuters): Following attacks on Ukrainian power firms in late December, it seems that Russia is once again targeting Ukraine, this time allegedly launching a cyberattack against an airport in Kiev, according to the article.  The article indicates that these attacks have prompted Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry to perform a review of anti-virus databases. The full text of the article is here.

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