The year 2017 witnessed a widespread of malware largely by WannaCry and to a lesser extent the NotPetya virus. Both ransomware strike randomly across the global network with no apparent specific organisations being targeted. There were limited reports of data breaches arising from both attacks by organisations or countries alike.
2018 not only saw an increase in cyber-breaches but the attacks were specific where organisations, some of which are internationally recognised and reputable brand names, were targeted for their customers database. Apparently, the step up in breaches in 2018 were partly due to countries and organisations across the world not adopting in tandem, measures to curb or mitigate the potential risks from a cyber breach.
One of the possible reasons for the lackadaisical approach in not adopting tandem measures could be due to the cascading and overdose of news on the proliferation of cyber-attacks and hacking attempts across the world in 2018 creating an 'overhang' amongst organisations and the public at large. Every time a large corporation announced that their database has been breached, the public at large doesn't seems overly concerned with majority adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude.
The recent case whereby Cathay Pacific and Facebook disclosed that millions of their users' data could possibly be breached and stolen, raised alarm bells with authorities and interest groups but hardly a whimper was raised by individuals or society at large. The public appears to provide the impression that since they can't do anything about the breach and the personal information which they shared with these organisations are of no significant value, they do not need to be alarmed.
What would 2019 holds for the organisations and individuals across the world? Are we going to witness more breaches? Are these breaches going to be more specific, i.e., based on industries/services rather than just an organisation. For 2019 and hopefully moving forward, we have created a section titled Cybersecurity 360 in our website.
There would always be differences in views and there would never be a know-all or perfect answer or solution to the subject of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity 360 is a space where we aimed to provide alternative and probing views so that visitors to our website and social media obtained views, hopefully, in a fair and balanced fashion.