Levels of hacking and phishing predicted to increase in 2019

2018 brought with it many major cyber-crime attacks over the year.

A number of global businesses and industries fell victim to data breaches including the likes of Facebook, Under Armour, MyHeritage and the Marriott Hotel Group – even the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had his emails hacked!

Together with increasing levels of ransomware and malware attacks, cyber security is rightly at the top of many business agendas in 2019. Here are what some of the world’s top experts are predicting for the year ahead.

McAfee

Leading software experts McAfee have warned that businesses may well find themselves ‘under siege’ from threats like malware, ransomware and over attacks in the coming months. They predict that criminals will turn to social media, cloud technologies and mobile phones as key windows for attacks and ‘upscale’ their efforts to bypass security controls.

Symantec

Highlighting the vulnerability of mobile and tablet devices, Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report revealed that over 24,000 malicious mobile apps are blocked daily. Mobile devices in particular are hot property for cyber attacks due to the likelihood of sensitive data being held locally on devices.

CSO Online

CSO Online has predicted that ransomware attacks for the healthcare industry will quadruple by 2020. Misdirected faxes or email and improper release of discharge papers are a common cause of breaches in the healthcare industry, however more than 40% of breaches are now down to hacks and malware.

World Economic Forum (WEF)

A new study from the World Economic Forum described cyber attacks as the “most dangerous risk” facing UK businesses. The Global Risks Report study of 2018 polled over 12,500 business executives worldwide asking them what they believed to be the biggest dangers to trading. Cyber attacks topped the poll ahead of failures of national governance, asset bubbles, fiscal crises, failures of mechanical mechanisms, terrorist attacks and failures of urban planning.

Here at ECL we have extensive experience in protecting businesses against the latest computer hacks, viruses, malware, spam, phishing scams and other threats and can advise you on the best methods of protecting your business. We can also help businesses to upgrade and run the latest and most secure versions of operating systems. For more information, please call us on 01268 575300 or email us on info@ecl.co.uk.