{"id":50315,"date":"2019-12-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/6-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-11-12T22:09:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T22:09:07","slug":"6-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/6-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2020\/2\/34130","title":{"rendered":"6 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

2019 has been an interesting year for cybersecurity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ransomware<\/a> attacks increased, and hackers<\/a> became increasingly emboldened in targeting state and local governments — with governments having to come to terms with the harsh reality that they have to pay the demanded ransom.<\/p>\n

When it seemed that things couldn’t get worse, in what is one of the largest data leaks from a single organization, news broke of the discovery of four terabytes of user data affecting 4 billion user accounts<\/a> (and 1.2 billion unique individuals) on an Elasticsearch server late this year. (Read Why Small Businesses Need to Learn from High-Profile Data Breaches<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Could 2020 be any worse?<\/p>\n

While 2020 holds more promises for cyber technology, the threats appear to be bigger. Below are six cybersecurity predictions should watch out for in 2020.<\/p>\n

There Will be a Rise in Targeted, Sophisticated Ransomware Attacks<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the major cyber security predictions for 2020 is that there will be a rise in ransomware attacks; not just your average ransomware attacks but the targeted, sophisticated type.<\/p>\n

While ransomware attacks gained increased notoriety in 2017 thanks to the WannaCry<\/a> and NotPetya attacks<\/a>, ransom demand from hackers using ransomware seemed to reduce in 2018. Many assumed ransomware is slowly dying due to the increased attention it gained the year before and the resulting sensitization of users to how to protect themselves.<\/p>\n

2019 showed a resurgence of ransomware attacks, however. In 2019 alone, ransomware attacks were estimated to cost businesses about $11 billion<\/a>. More importantly, governments and major corporations seem to be the major target, with more than 70 U.S. government agencies falling victim to ransomware attacks.<\/p>\n

While many users attempted to foil ransomware attacks by automating the backup process and ensuring more constant backups, newer strains of ransomware that preempt these measures are being developed. These advanced ransomware target shadow copies and backup files thereby making it impossible to restore data on affected devices.<\/p>\n

The Ryuk ransomware is a recent example of a ransomware attack that uses this approach, and you can expect an increase in this type of attack in 2020.<\/p>\n

Deepfakes Will Become an Even Bigger Threat — both Politically and Commercially<\/span><\/h2>\n

Take a minute to watch the following video:<\/p>\n