What Are the Top Cyber Threats for 2015?
When Americans worry about crime, these days they worry more about their credit card information being hacked (69 percent) than they do about criminals breaking into their home (45 percent), stealing their car (42 percent), or even getting mugged (31 percent), according to a recent Gallup poll.
The Gallup annual crime survey also reported that during the past year, more than a quarter of Americans indicated that they or another member of their household had their information from a credit card they used at a store stolen.
While Americans have good reason to worry about someone hacking their credit cards, security researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology raised some other cyber security red flags. Here are some highlights from the latest Emerging Cyber Threats Report, which is issued annually by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center and the Georgia Tech Research Institute:
- Online privacy is a major concern for both individuals and businesses, and government policies will likely continue to lag.
- Beware of trusting the emerging Internet of Things. “With 50 billion ‘things’ expected to be connected to the Internet, the web of trust between users, systems, and devices will become even more important,” says Margaret Loper, principal research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute.
- Mobile devices will fall under increasing attack. Although Android devices remain the focus of the majority of attacks, Apple’s ecosystem is “not a safe haven.” Also, the principal of “follow the money” will undoubtedly apply as mobile payments draw attackers’ focus.
- Company insiders who turn against their company have the potential to cause significant damage.
- Online nation-state conflicts will become the rule, not the exception.
Finally, what we sometimes tend to forget: “While software vulnerabilities continue to be exploited, the user is still the greatest weakness to information security,” noted the report.
As a reminder, here are five tips to keep your online accounts safe from USA Today.
