Like every new year, 2022 will hold both opportunities and challenges for IT security. One thing is already certain: the trend towards increasing cyber-attacks and their increasing professionalization is unchanged. Here are some Cybersecurity trends in 2022 that you must watch:

Growth in Cloud Services and Threats to Cloud Security

The lack of security of cloud services remains one of the biggest cybersecurity trends in the industry. Again, the sudden shift to large-scale remote work after the pandemic has dramatically increased the need for cloud-based services and infrastructure, with a corresponding impact on organizational security.

Cloud services have many advantages: scalability, efficiency, and cost savings. At the same time, however, they are also a preferred target for attacks. Misconfigured cloud settings majorly cause data breaches, unauthorized access, insecure interfaces, and email account capture. The average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million. Measures to protect cloud services are therefore indispensable for companies.

Evolution of Multi-Factor Authentication

Multi-Factor authentication is an electronic authentication method that grants users access to a website or application after submitting two or more types of identity evidence to an authentication system. While most consider multi-factor authentication highly secure, companies like Microsoft now urge users to stop using SMS and voice authentication methods. It is due to the increased security risks.

SMS authentication methods remain vulnerable to automated “man in the middle” attacks. It is an unencrypted form of messaging, but experts still recommend using SMS authentication if you have no other security options. 

Online banking is at the highest risk of inefficient multi-factor authentication methods, nearly always done through SMS verification. To reduce the risk of unauthorized access to accounts, cybersecurity experts are increasingly recommending hardware security keys for verification when possible.

5G and Its Space

While much of the interest around 5G is due to anticipated improvements in network performance for consumer applications, one of the most interesting dimensions is that private 5G networks are emerging among cybersecurity trends in 2022, as a case in point.

Axid Communications believes that these private 5G networks highlight the potential of video surveillance solutions in a large number of applications. They can bring many benefits from a cybersecurity perspective. Of course, if customers are building private 5G networks, video surveillance will need to integrate with them without any problems.

A Greater Threat to the Health Sector

The burden on the healthcare system has increased dramatically with the Covid-19 pandemic. Hospitals were full of patients, and staff from other wards moved to Covid wards. In addition, non-urgent surgeries have been postponed, and the trend of telemedicine has arrived. It allows doctors to consult and track patients health conditions remotely.

However, most healthcare facilities were not prepared for the sudden increase in load and telemedicine systems were not adequately protected. Many healthcare facilities had vulnerabilities and cracks in their system, and cybercriminals took advantage of them by attacking them and carrying out data breaches. Remote consultation has also led to cybersecurity challenges such as patient data security and the prevention of record tampering. Many hospitals and healthcare facilities have been slow to implement the imperative cybersecurity infrastructure.

IoT, Web Infrastructure, and Cryptocurrency

As the world gradually prepares for a permanent work-from-anywhere scenario, companies are constantly scrambling to move existing services to the cloud. Attacks on cloud infrastructures are likely to increase in 2022. And that will also affect the big providers, like Azure AD and Office365. Misconfigurations and a lack of qualified cybersecurity personnel play a critical role in data breaches and infrastructure compromises.

With the cryptocurrency ecosystem in full swing, Bitdefender expects cybercriminals to be more interested in attacks against exchange services, miners, and wallet stealers. Cryptocurrency will give rise to cyber fraud.

Conclusion

Even if our list of “Cybersecurity trends in 2022” ends here, there are still many noteworthy IT security trends for 2022 that could be listed, e.g. B. the smuggling of malware in updates, cyberattacks on mechanical and plant engineering, agriculture, and much more. 

An end to the threat situation is not in the picture. But as you can see very well, cybercriminals like to copy proven business models and adapt them to their industry. It is also worth noting that cyberattacks are becoming increasingly complex and intelligent.