Top Ten Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities Of 2020

Three years back in 2018, the consequences of the Specter vulnerability that affected all the AMD and Intel processors are seen to date. Similarly, the Intel chip vulnerability was also a similar case that posed a threat to sensitive data and info. As we deal with the virus and the pandemic in the external world, the virtual realm has to come to grips with cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Cybersecurity vulnerability is not to be confused with cyber threats. There exists a fine line of difference between them. Unlike cyber threats, vulnerabilities are not brought into a system, it exists since the beginning. Any slight vulnerability is a leeway that can be exploited by cybercriminals.

10 Cybersecurity susceptibilities of 2020

1. Social engineering attacks– A psychological approach to hoax people to reveal the most confidential info like the login details, passwords, etc. Baiting, scareware, pretexting, and phishing are some of the social engineering techniques. 
2. Cloud vulnerability– By 2020, almost 83% of enterprises have transferred their workload to cloud security. Though cloud security is one of the efficient data security solutions, it proves challenging at some point. Misconfiguration, malicious insider risks, account hijacking are the commonly known cloud vulnerabilities.
3. AI fuzzing – The new mode of digitalization has enabled AI to make a dent in the industry. AI is both a boon and a bane to the IT sector. AI fuzzing is a mechanism that helps firms to detect and fix vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, cybercriminals have managed to start and automate zero-day attacks in data security solutions.
4. The zero-day attack– A computer software vulnerability in which the hacker manages to seize the flaw before it is identified and fixed. Broken algorithms, URL redirects, butter overflows, SQL injection are the various forms of zero-day attacks.
5. ML or data poisoning– This vulnerability occurs when a cyber crook injects instructions into the ML model and pollutes it. This tampers with the data and the algorithm. Social networking platforms, shopping sites, search engines, and other online platforms all follow ML.
6. Internet of Things– As per a fortune business report, IoT is inclined to expand to $1.1 trillion by 2026. Unfavorably, this secure communication and business collaboration suite fail to support the required built-in security to respond to threats. Lack of security awareness, limited computational abilities, heterogeneous transmission technology adds to IoT vulnerabilities.
7. Internal threats– According to the Verizon DBIR 2019 reports, insider threats are accountable for 34% of cyber vulnerabilities. Unauthorized logins, more devices on restricted networks, installation of new apps on locked-down systems supplement it.
8. Application Programming Interface (API) vulnerabilities– API is witnessing exponential growth. Weak authentication, lack of encryption, and insecure endpoints make it vulnerable to attacks.
9. Deepfake– The terms ‘deep learning’ and ‘fake are combined to coin this vulnerability. Deepfake models are well-trained to generate artificial human voices to fool people.
10. 5G and wifi security vulnerability– With the emerging 5G network, cybersecurity vulnerability is subject to escalation. The wireless carriers of 5G transfer data to wifi networks to spare bandwidth leaving gaps to cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

At the closure

On a deeper analysis, it is seen that the primary objective of every cyber attacker is to gain the victim’s trust. Laying a hand on your trust is half the work done for them. With the advancing technology and years, cybersecurity vulnerabilities are bound to increase. Hence, secure communication and business collaboration suite would not suffice. Enterprises must remain alert not to fall prey to cybercriminals. 

‘True cybersecurity is preparing for what is next, not what was last’.