7 key cybercrime trends in 2018
The cyber threat will by no means decrease in 2018. Even more ransomware than in 2017 and increased attacks on firmware and corporate networks as well as OS X devices will be analyzed.
Below are the top seven cybercrime trends in 2018 analyzed by Bitdefender:
1. Criminals remain loyal to successful malware
Never change a winning team: Criminals will remain loyal to the malware that makes the most money: ransomware, banking Trojans, and digital currency miners. However, the way these threats are used will change. Ransomware, for example, will become more sophisticated and use GPU power for encryption purposes in the future to bypass anti-malware products.
2. Increasing focus on companies
After years of focusing on individuals, malware authors will increasingly target enterprises and computer networks. Password-grabbing programs like Mimikatz or exploiting worm vulnerabilities will become standard for many malware samples.
3. Windows 10 becomes popular target for cyber attacks
Windows 10 is becoming ubiquitous and thus more interesting as a target. The platform also supports Powershell and Linux Bash. Criminals are increasingly using email attacks without file attachments here. But the number of malicious attachments in spam emails will also increase, especially in scripting languages like PERL or Python.
4. consolidation in the PaaS market
Bitdefender also expects big changes in the PaaS (Polymorphism as a Service) market, an industry that looks set to consolidate during 2018. Advanced polymorphic engines running in the cloud are already being used by cyber criminals to flood the market with unique variants of known malware. This offers cyber criminals great advantages, and licensing access to these systems is likely to bring good business to the players.
5. firmware vulnerabilities open secret backdoor
In 2018, criminal actors will again scan individual components of devices for vulnerabilities that are below the level of the operating system, such as firmware. The individual WiFi and Bluetooth stacks will receive increased attention, as all potential vulnerabilities that have already been identified offer a stealthy backdoor that is very difficult to detect and secure.
6. IoT botnets continue to evolve
Large IoT botnets will become the new normal in 2018. The source code for IoT bots is available for free on the web. Criminal groups looking to launch massive attacks using IoT devices have a solid platform that they can adapt to their own needs. Experts believe this code will be further improved in 2018 to use compromised networks to carry out ransomware and other attacks.
7. more attacks on OS X
Last but not least, more attacks on the OS X space, i.e. Macs, are also expected. However, for consumers, malware is likely to focus on scareware tactics to force victims to pay for useless tools.
For more information on the 2017 cybersecurity landscape and an outlook for 2018, see Bitdefender's The Global Threat Landscape Report 2017. Free download here.
More cybercrime trends for 2018 here.
