Introduction
It’s almost New Year’s! You’ve almost made it through another tumultuous year full of cybersecurity threats and defenses. Whether used for good or evil, each new technological marvel must fight to stay ahead of their opposition. Bad actors develop better weapons, and security teams counter with stronger shields.
As the holidays approach, people tend to get more careless about security awareness. By the time you get back from your family vacation in January, your mind may as well have been wiped clean about how to use the Internet safely and efficiently.
Don’t fall headfirst into 2023 without any preparation! It’s never too early to start thinking about what cybersecurity threats and defenses will make headlines in the coming year.
Zero Trust
Zero-day vulnerabilities are places where the attack surface (that refers to anywhere that a hacker might get into the system) is exposed in a newly-launched program or service. This leaves the software at risk until the developers release a new version to “patch” the issue. Until you update the software to include the patch, you’re at risk!
To help mitigate those kinds of threats, security experts developed what’s known as a zero-trust framework. This approach assumes your system is vulnerable until every part of it has been examined and deemed acceptable to use, i.e., not at risk. It calculates how safe each asset is before allowing it to connect to the network or system. That includes vetting new users and revoking access if they step out of line!
Supply Chain Attacks
Going after a trusted vendor and sabotaging the service is a good way to infect all their users. Supply chain attacks, as they’re known, isn’t a new tactic for cybercriminals. It has, however, become a more popular method of stealing data in the past few years. Experts predict that this will hold true throughout 2023.
What does this look like in the real world? Let’s consider the 2021 attack on the Python Package Index (PyPI). PyPI is the primary host for software developers to share code written in Python, which is a common coding language. In this case, hackers got into real code and “poisoned” it, so anyone who used it would be infected with cryptocurrency miners and malware. You can see how this is an effective strategy for cybercriminals!
Metaverse
As more people seem inclined to join the metaverse, more services join to cater to them, so more people get online…and the cycle continues.
Although excitement about the metaverse seems to grow each day, security in virtual reality isn’t moving at the same pace. The metaverse lacks a lot of the data and privacy protections that we’re afforded in the real world, and we’ve yet to see the breadth of what zero-day attacks will follow a headfirst rush into the metaverse by consumers and businesses alike.
Meanwhile, this is still just another form of social media, and it thereby poses the same risks as any other platform when it comes to phishing and scams.
Conclusion
All of this is just a tiny peek behind the curtain of what’s to come next year. Threat actors are always looking for new ways to weasel their way onto your systems and exploit you for information or money. Stay abreast of breaking news on threats to you and your devices, and always keep an eye out for suspicious activity or messages that suggest it’s really a cybercriminal at work.
No matter what happens next in information security, follow our blog to get the latest on staying secure!
References
- https://venturebeat.com/security/cybersecurity-predictions-gartner/
- https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/attack-surface
- https://colortokens.com/blog/nist-zero-trust-architecture/ https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/software-supply-chain-attacks-will-increase-in-2023-report/517007
- https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/09/actors-behind-pypi-supply-chain-attack-have-been-active-since-late-2021/
- https://cointelegraph.com/news/metaverse-exploitation-and-abuse-to-rise-in-2023-kaspersky