McAfee releases 2019 Threat Predictions Report

McAfee has released its annual Threat Predictions Report, which outlines predictions for the cybersecurity landscape in 2019. 

In 2019, McAfee expects a significant increase in data exfiltration attacks that target the cloud.

With a 33% increase in users collaborating on this data during the past year, cybercriminals are using various methods to seek more targets in the coming year, particularly by targeting weak APIs or ungoverned API endpoints. 

“Australia has always been one of the fastest growing ‘cloud’ countries in the world per capita, and we’ll jump at any opportunity to become more efficient and advanced in our approach to the cloud,” said Gary Denman, McAfee Vice President, Australia and New Zealand.

“However, as we see from the Threat Predictions Report, corporate data residing on the cloud will be a major target in the coming year. As much as 21% of content now managed on the cloud contain sensitive materials, and once information is accessed within the right regulations, it becomes a matter how it’s being used. Someone down the stream can become a target, and the data gets exfiltrated through a long pipe. Cloud-native attacks will soon become the launchpad for cryptojacking and ransomware attacks, which is why now, more than ever before, cyber resilience will become key, thwarting these types of attacks to the cloud.”

The report also predicts that 2019 will see the use of multifaceted, synergistic threats. This means the use of several different kinds of cyber threats such as phishing, ransomware, cryptojacking in tandem.

The report found that attackers will employ AI to help them avoid detection by security software, particularly to automate target selection, or to check infected environments before deploying later stages and avoiding detection.

Identity platforms and IoT edge devices will also be under siege as more criminals leverage them to mount attacks on industrial control systems, according to McAfee. 

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