Top 8 Cyber Security Trends to Follow for 2022

Here's Emerging Cyber Security Trends That You Should Watch Out & Get Familiar With to Improve Your Internet Privacy & IT Security

In today's technology-driven world, cyberattacks are becoming quite a norm. From your personal information getting exposed by hackers to impacting your business through shutting down entirely from hours to days, your company can be vulnerable to numerous cyber-attacks. Furthermore, according to Statista, an average cost of a data breach is around the US $ 3.86 million.

However, professionals that have advanced cybersecurity degree are capable of assisting organizations in preventing such attacks. For instance, such cybersecurity professionals have the technical skills and knowledge required to build cybersecurity strategies to protect organizations from becoming victims of cyberattacks.

Likewise, if you're a cybersecurity professional then, it's recommended that you stay updated with the latest cyber security trends that can help you upgrade yourself and stay up in the technology-driven world.

Emerging Trends Every Cybersecurity Professional Should Be Aware of

Due to cyber attacks that happen daily, cybersecurity is among the high-demand field, and professionals who choose to make their careers within cybersecurity tend to have a brighter future.

Likewise, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cybersecurity industry will grow around 31% by 2029, compared to other industries. Therefore, to make sure you make best of it, here are some of the emerging trends in cyber security that we recommend you should stay aware of and take advantage of it:

1. AI Integration Smaller companies that don't have separate cyber security departments may start implementing AI (Artificial Intelligence) strategies. Likewise, AI is also useful for analyzing the massive amount of data for identifying threats. However, on the flip side, cybercriminals may use artificial intelligence to find vulnerabilities within an organization's technological infrastructure.

Therefore, it's quite evident that it'll become one of the emerging trends in cyber security that you should keep a tab on and learn about AI security as a cyber security professional.

1. Remote Work COVID-19 pandemic has bought a lot of change, and working from home is one of the vital differences everyone witnessed. According to the report of Upwork, 36+ million Americans will be working by 2025, which means around an 87% increase rate compared to pre-pandemic stats. However, attacks on organizations have increased due to remote work, as employees often use their devices that may not be as secure as they should be. Furthermore, cybercriminals often get benefitted from misconfigured cloud security, insecure devices of home and networks.

And, because of such attacks, there's an increased demand for cybersecurity professionals, and it'll remain one of the trending topics in cyber security as well. Therefore, it's recommended that as a cybersecurity professional, you stay aware of its growth and keep yourself updated on how to keep an organization safe from attacks that occur because of remote work.

1. ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) Organizations are shifting towards ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access) from VPNs (Virtual Private Network) as it offers enhanced security because individuals have to log in using multifactor authentication. Likewise, according to the "Zero Trust Architecture and Solutions," – a recent study by Gartner, organizations will see a boost of around 60% in the usage of ZTNA compared to relying upon VPN like earlier. In addition, it provides security by limiting employees' access to data while giving access to only those data that are required to complete their assigned work.

Therefore, as a security developer, you should be aware of ZTNA and how to optimally use it, as it'll become one of the trending topics in cyber security.

1. Insider Threats Insider threats are an attack or a threat that comes from within the organization that's targeted. It usually involves someone like the present or former business associate or employee who has access to the company's critical information or any admin type account and misuses it.

And there have been multiple cases where such threats have taken place. For example, an insider threat occurred earlier in summer 2019 when one of the former employees of AWS (Amazon Web Services), Paige Thompson, accessed the personal information of Capital One credit card customers and applicants from Amazon Web Services along with 30 other companies.

Likewise, the firewall was misconfigured. As a result, it became possible for Thompson to get buckets of data and access those important folders in the AWS storage space of Capital One. And, later in July 2019, Capital One even admitted that Thompson had got access to critical information of 106 million customers and credit card applicants in Canada and the United States.

And, predictably, an insider threat is something that will continue to emerge even in the coming time. Therefore, it's recommended that cybersecurity professionals be aware of this danger as it's a trending topic in cybersecurity that shouldn't be taken for granted.

1. Supply Chain Attacks A supply chain attack is a cyberattack where an attacker goes for a company by finding weaker links within an organization's supply chain. Likewise, the supply chain is called the network of organizations, people, events, resources, and technology that are involved in developing and selling a particular product.

Furthermore, the supply chain consists of everything, such as delivering materials from supplier to manufacturer and delivering the finished product to end-users. Therefore, the supply chain attack is among the weak points, and targeting cyber attackers can take advantage of it successfully. Lastly, a supply chain attack is possible within all industry types that have a contract with third-party vendors like government and financial sectors.

Henceforth, it's recommended that cybersecurity professionals get aware of it and learn how to keep the supply chain safe and secure from attackers, as it's among emerging trends in cyber security.

1. IoT Security
   The IoT (Internet of Things) is among the versatile technology that exists today. And, the presence of the internet and various other connected devices make the IoT scalable and adaptable. From food production, finance, healthcare, manufacturing to energy, limitless industries have adopted IoT. Likewise, it has even revolutionized the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), buildings, smart homes, cities, and more.
   However, such advancement in IoT is also becoming the prime target for a cyber attacker, and it's among the trending topics in cyber security that no one should not ignore. Therefore, if you're a cybersecurity professional looking to enhance your skills, IoT security can benefit your career growth.

2. Automation
   Put simply, automation is one of the technology terms where human interaction is minimal. It includes IT automation, personal application like home automation, BPA (Business Process Automation), and more.
   Various types of automation tools are available like machine learning, AI (Artificial Intelligence), RPA (Robotic Process Automation). Therefore, it's recommended that you focus on learning how to keep your organization secure from automated attacks because it's used widely and is one of the emerging trends in cybersecurity.

3. Cloud Services
   In recent times cloud services have seen dramatic growth. As a result, many small to big companies have adopted cloud services. It allows users to access data storage, software applications, and other services directly through an internet connection instead of installing and relying on physical infrastructure.

Using such technology comes with the benefits like increased performance and reduced operation cost. Unfortunately, though it's beneficial for the company, it also garners the attention of cybercriminals and often becomes the target of cyberattacks.

For instance, if the systems aren't configured or maintained correctly, it's likely attackers will be able to exploit vulnerabilities of the system's security and get access to the company's critical data.

Therefore, as a cybersecurity professional, we recommend that you stay aware of keeping cloud services secure. In addition, it'll help boost your career because many organizations even offer jobs for securing their cloud infrastructure.

Wrapping Up
The company must maintain the balance between user experience,
privacy, and security. Because, in this technologically driven world, businesses getting attacked and becoming the victim of cyberattacks is quite common.

Nonetheless, here we've our recommendation regarding emerging trends in cyber security and how you as a cybersecurity professional can have your edge on it to improve Internet privacy and IT security.