Trends in Cybersecurity to Be Aware of in the Last Half of 2021
Cybersecurity is always improving as technology advances, which means it’s extremely important to be aware of trends within the industry. Throughout the first half of 2021, we saw cyberespionage campaigns, zero-day vulnerabilities, ransomware attacks, and more, making cybersecurity critical. Due to this, experts are looking to the rest of the year to determine what the remainder of 2021 will have in store. Here are a few trends that everyone should keep in mind while going into the latter months of 2021.
Hybrid Work More and more people have been returning to in-person work, but a large portion of companies are entering a hybrid work environment if they haven’t already. This increase in remote workers means that cybersecurity needs to be a major factor in establishing hybrid work. Over a year of remote work resulted in a larger attack surface, lax security practices, and a lack of training and resources to protect home networks. These issues could follow employees back to the office, which will potentially lead to an increase in support calls for infected devices—both immediate and eventual. Some will be clear right away as infected devices try to connect to the corporate network, but eventual problems can travel under the radar and slip through the cracks.
Shadow IT Employees are likely to bring the devices they relied on while working from home once they return to the office, or they may use certain apps that helped conduct their work during the lockdown. These can both open the door to a wave of shadow IT and security issues. Security and IT teams should ensure that all devices used during the work-from-home era are updated and secured before connecting to the local area network at corporate offices; this will help keep cybercriminals from gaining a foothold in any vulnerabilities. Companies should require their employees to use built-in update mechanisms so their devices have the latest update before they come into the office. Additionally, incoming devices should be put into a quarantine section of the network for a system integrity and security check. The goal of all of this is to re-establish a secure state within the company and work culture.
A Look Into the Latest Apple Update and Its Impact on Cybersecurity
Recently, Apple released a software update to all Apple phones, computers, and watches with an emergency security patch to prevent hackers from accessing customer devices without the users knowing. The update came in response to a University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab report, which said that the Israeli spyware company, NSO Group, used a “zero-click exploit” to access the phone of an unnamed Saudi activist. This exploit, called “Foredentry” by Citizen Lab researchers, has been in use since February; the researchers also reported that the NSO Group’s flagship spyware program, “Pegasus,” was used to infect the activist’s mobile device. Zero-click exploits do not require any interaction with the owner of the device, meaning it’s nearly impossible for people to know if they have been compromised or not. NSO Group is described by Citizen Lab as a “prolific” seller of spyware technology to governments globally, with its products being regularly linked to surveillance abuse. The NSO Group stated that it would “continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world with life-saving technologies to fight terror and crime,” but cyber security analysts have spoken out and disagree with the framing of the group.
Though it claims only to sell its products to licensed law enforcement groups, whether or not the statement is accurate is still being called into question. Earlier in the year, Apple declared that more than 1.6 billion Apple devices were being used worldwide, with one billion of those being active iPhones. The company tried to prevent Pegasus exploitation with iOS14, but the malware was still able to breach weaknesses in the company’s software and take advantage of them. Despite this, Apple says that a majority of its customers are unlikely to be impacted by the vulnerability. Thanks to Citizen Lab, Apple was able to create a patch quickly to help deter zero-click threats. The company credits the research group for helping create the patch swiftly and efficiently. Attacks such as the one run by the NSO Group are highly sophisticated, costly, and work for only a short period of time; due to this, they’re often used against specific individuals rather than large groups. However, this doesn’t mean that zero-click threats aren’t a threat to people at large—technology is constantly evolving, and unfortunately, this statement includes technology created for malicious purposes as well. Apple will continue to work so that all users’ devices, and their data, are protected.
How Has Fintech Impacted Different Industries?
Fintech has spread massively over the years, to the point where it impacts more than just the financial industry. Thanks to the development of fintech, two types of products were created for the benefit of others: B2B and B2C. The first type, B2B, offers different financial services through fintech apps, while the second type, B2C, offers apps that are user-oriented for clients. The B2C model, specifically, was created to compete with financial service providers. From mobile apps to trading areas, fintech projects vary immensely and allow entrepreneurs to get their money without having to visit the bank. Here are a few industries that fintech has impacted over the years.
Funds Transfer Transferring funds used to be slow and expensive. If you wanted to transfer money, you really had to think about when you would do it and when you needed the money transferred by if you wanted to get it done in time. However, with fintech, the funds transfer field started to develop; according to Think with Google, 69% of smartphone users transfer money using a mobile app rather than a website. Plenty of online services exist for money transfers, such as TransferWise.
These services give small companies and private users the chance to send money to others at a lower price.
Loans Since many people have credit cards with certain payment limits, it’s possible to take out a loan online. Web and mobile applications such as KreditBee and MobiKwik allow people to use their sites and take out a loan quickly; users can usually apply and be approved for a loan in fifteen minutes. Once approved, the whole sum of the loan can be transferred to any banking card within an hour, and users can access their personal information (balances, arrears, etc.) quickly and easily. It’s no longer necessary to stand in lines and sign physical documents to get a loan; this trend could completely replace habitual crediting.
Chatbots Chatbots are artificially intelligent bots that can, among other things, help improve the financial process. They can send notifications about changes to whoever is listed, provide helpful information to users, and more. Due to this, chatbots have increased user loyalty, which increases a business’s profit and makes a product more competitive. Several banks globally already use chatbots and have seen these results, using them to notify clients, help clients pay their bills, and so on. Some, like MasterCard, even have a chatbot for Facebook Messenger to improve digital services.
What to Look for in Fintech in 2022
Fintech has developed and expanded increasingly over the last decade, with firms leveraging technology, innovations, big data, and analytics. These developments are far from the last we’ll see in the financial sector; as new developments arise, everything that involves finance will be impacted by fintech. Here are some fintech trends to keep in mind as we draw closer to 2022.
Banking Society is steadily leaning towards becoming cashless, and digital-only banks lend to this growing trend. Fewer people have physically needed to go to a bank and handle their financial issues, resulting in fewer lines and no physical cash to hold. Current online banks, such as the UK-based Monzo, Revolut, and Starling, have seen rapidly growing customer bases that force existing banks to rethink the focus on mobile apps. Fintech improvements continue to shift the banking industry, which has forced banks to close branches as a result. As customers continue to say they plan on converting to digital-only banking, it’s no surprise that a quarter of all bank branches are expected to close within the next three years.
On the other hand, open banking pledges to deliver more competitive financial services to both individuals and businesses. This banking method connects banks, third parties, and technology providers, consensually sharing customer data with authorised providers.
Blockchain As digital ledger technologies continue to advance and interest in cryptocurrency grows, blockchain technology will continue to open opportunities to fintech companies. According to PWC, worldwide economies are expected to adopt blockchain technology at scale by 2025. Blockchain continues to disrupt the payment industry, with many people expecting it to become apparent in both the financial sector and, specifically, fintech. This technology enables secure payments and transactions for all who use it while removing the middleman, therefore reducing costs by a large percentage. Presently, cryptocurrencies have successfully used blockchain technology and are prepared to be incorporated into financial institutions, applying them to traditional banking operations.
Financial Literacy Fintech also provides a way to improve people’s financial literacy, allowing customers access to easy-to-understand financial information so they can make sensible decisions about their personal finances. Not all people, for example, understand the importance of budgeting; not all people are completely informed of the details when making spending decisions. Fintech uses data accessible through open banking to inform customers about the best available choices for them. The hope is to continue educating people in financial literacy throughout 2022 so that everyone can make smart financial decisions.