Remote work, API and contact tracing at risk in 2021
What are the IT threats that will strike in 2021? Trend Micro experts thought of answering this question, according to which in 2021 companies will have to work hard to stay safe, in the face of an increase in dependence on online.
Analysts have looked at developments that are not only plausible but also predictable. So the driving factors of cybersecurity for the foreseeable future and how companies will have to adapt in the face of the influence exerted by threats and technologies.
Remote work
In 2021 – explains Trend Micro – remote work will consolidate and hybrid environments, those in which personal and work activities are mixed in the same machine, will pose a significant challenge to companies that will be able to exercise less control over what their employees use. Mixing personal and work activities blurs the boundaries between the environments in which data is stored and processed.
If a work device gets infected, will personal data be taken into account when cleaning and restoring the machine? Is there any way to keep track of the data that is printed or exported? This reduced visibility by companies of what happens on devices is further compounded when employees access personal applications from those same devices.
Api
An Application Programming Interface (Api) is nothing more than an intermediary software that allows communication between multiple applications by providing protocols, routines and tools. It is able to implement services and software within devices including IoT ones. Many companies rely on APIs to provide access to their internal systems and interact with customers through apps.
As Trend Micro writes in the report, while already widespread, APIs are still far behind when it comes to security and introduce several weaknesses that can be exploited as vectors to breach enterprise applications. Some recent cases have resulted in access to personal information of users and the discovery of source code and vulnerable access to backend services.
Contact tracing
Among the most vulnerable sectors also the data collections carried out to monitor the state of health. Quick access to data could be crucial in fighting the pandemic, but easing privacy measures causes a host of other problems. Large databases coupled with hasty implementations are juicy targets for attackers who intend to compromise the data thus collected and stored. Cybercriminal groups can misuse this data in various ways , for example by extracting identity information for resale via their underground channels.
