Deepfakes play a larger role in blended attacks. “In recent years, we saw the increased success of blended attacks that, for example, combine social engineering tactics with malicious links. With end users becoming more aware of social engineering, we can expect more sophisticated attackers will increasingly turn to deepfakes to trick end-users into clicking on malicious links and downloading infecting files.
“As the world reaches saturation of ransomware, adversaries will explore new methods to get money from the same victims in the fifth generation of ransomware.”4. Refocused regulation “In the coming year, regulation in the EU will have more of an emphasis on ensuring businesses truly identified and remediated breaches. This regulatory focus will close the gap between shutting the attack door in the immediate aftermath of an incident and understanding the attack’s impact. In the US, regulatory bodies such as the SEC take a different approach that focuses on enhancing cyber risk reporting and board-level governance.
“As both direct and indirect cyber warfare domains grow, so too does the potential for a substantial cyber-attack, most likely in an area such as the energy space. I see this risk most presently in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but it is certainly top of mind among cybersecurity and national defence experts globally.”8. Burnout will plague security team members