Trend Micro predicts cyber attacks worldwide in 2015

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Lo is seen explaining the report’s forecasts. Lo says, following the success of targeted attacks from Chinese and Russian cybercriminals, many hackers from other countries will regard cyber-attacks as a more practical method to grab a foothold in an organisation

KUCHING: Trend Micro Incorporated (Trend Micro) has forecast that targeted cyber attacks will become more rampant in more countries as hackers move from the usual suspects and aim for organisations in non-traditional countries such in Malaysia and Indonesia.

In a recently released press statement, Trend Micro in its annual securities predictions report, ‘Trend Micro Security Predictions for 2015 and Beyond’, highlighted that targeted attacks campaigns will continue to multiply in 2015, after cybercriminals have noteworthy breaches via targeted attacks in the US and China.

“What we are seeing today is not a huge surprise but rather the velocity and brutal measures cybercriminals are using to steal information,” said Victor Lo, Trend Micro Southeast Asia Regional Consulting director.

“Following the success of targeted attacks from Chinese and Russian cybercriminals, many hackers from other countries will regard cyber-attacks as a more practical method to grab a foothold in an organisation.

“Additionally, with the incessant barrage of data breaches emerging almost daily, it’s reasonable to presume that data breaches will be essentially regarded as a common offshoot of the present threat landscape.”

Trend Micro’s threat defense experts have also predicted that hackers within countries such as Vietnam, UK, and India, will pursue the use of targeted attacks and we will see attacks against non-traditional countries like that seen recently against Malaysia and Indonesia based organisations.

Additionally, Trend Micro’s latest report breaks downs seven other cybersecurity threat predictions for 2015 including banks and payment systems.

It said, cyber threats in the banking sector will continue to become more severe as more unique cybercrime attacks against financial institutions emerge. As such, Trend Micro advised, financial and banking intuitions must implement two-factor authentication for online services, for better defense against this possible oncoming cyberthreats.

“The payment ecosystem will continue to evolve,” said Lo.

“Massive transformation is upon us and we will continue to see threat actors trying to manipulate Near Field Communications (NFC) as certain platforms gain momentum due to their significant following and user’s penchant for adopting the latest and greatest technology,” he added.

According to the report, Trend Micro also expects continued increase in the exploitation of smart devices such as smart cameras, appliances and TV’s as cybercriminals become more aggressive at targeting these platforms as well as the organisations who manage data on these devices.

“As factors like market pressure push device manufacturers to launch more and more smart devices sans security in mind to meet the rising demand, so will attackers increasingly find vulnerabilities to exploit for their own gain,” it said.

Lo commented, “Smart homes and home automation will continue to proliferate across the globe, further increasing all of our attack surfaces.”

He added, “As such, smart device manufactures must consider how to secure the data that resides in these devices not just the devices themselves.”

Meanwhile, other highlights of the 2015 forecast report include more cybercriminals turning to darknets and exclusive-access forums to share and sell crimeware, increased cyber activity which will translate to better, bigger, and more successful hacking tools and attempts, and exploits kits that will target Android, as mobile vulnerabilities play a bigger role in device infection.

It also highlighted that new mobile payment methods are likely to introduce new cyber threats to the market and it also forecast more attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in open source apps.

It also pointed out while technological diversity will save the internet of every devices from mass attacks, the same won’t be true for the data they process.