A New Year means a new round of ‘trends’ for the upcoming year from tech sector pundits. However, in the cyber-security field, these trends could help change the way you protect your IT infrastructure and business. Let’s find out what awaits cyber-security professionals in 2019:

Start ‘beefing up’ your Internet of Things Security – The Mirani botnet attack on IoT devices showcased how a simple bit of computer code could cause lasting damage to the brands and technology that have underpinned the IoT revolution. This bug made speakers and cameras remain live – for the purposes of unscrupulous cyber-activities – without the users’ own consent or permission. Kaspersky, the tech security firm, argues that the “unstoppable” pace in the sector requires IT security bosses to put IoT at the heart of their 2019 cyber security plans.

The Centre for Internet Security argues that these three tends will be huge in 2019:

• Privacy transparency with profound enforcement from regulators. Last year saw Starwood hotels, British Airways and high street banks fall victim to cyber-criminals yet most of these attacks resulted from human error and a breach of regulations leading to financial fines from government regulators. The GDPR is now in full steam and the ICO is beginning to clamp down hard on companies who aren’t GDPR ready.
• More companies need to undertake Security Assessment Plans. As cyber-warfare and cyber-crime become household terms and as smaller companies are hit by malicious cyber-criminals, more and more businesses will need to strategise ways of countering cyber-criminality through audit reporting, security assessment and cyber security plans.
• “Blurred Lines” when more businesses move to the cloud, with increases in remote working and legacy computer networks. This is about understanding cyber-security when the data your business depends upon moves outside of your traditional legacy network into the cloud or virtually. Being responsible for data integrity against cyber-criminality requires fresh thinking from security strategists.