While many companies are settling on hybrid or private clouds for security reasons, hackers are gearing up to tackle them too. The security vendor BitDefender is therefore judging attacks on those clouds to be one of the five most important sources of risk this year: “Private clouds are becoming targets worth attacking.”
Another source of risk mentioned by BitDefender are violations of the BYOD guidelines. That’s because employees that access the corporate network using private mobile devices often fail to comply with the necessary security safeguards. At least one major security incident can be expected in 2015. Consistent with that, mobile botnets may spread appreciably. The fact that various exploit kits for Android are already in circulation suggests that cybercriminals are expecting rich pickings in this area. But iOS devices too can be expected to be confronted with real malware challenges for the first time.
Also on the list: the Tor network. What started as an anonymous surfing network for activists is now thought to be “the de-facto standard for Ransomware”: Recent variants of the malware, which locks the computer and extorts a ransom from the user, run the communication between the bots and the command-and-control centre through Tor, and therefore out of the reach of the law enforcement authorities. And finally, the Internet of Things is also casting its shadow: joining smartphones and tablets, smart entertainment and home appliances will swing into the cross-hairs of the botnet manipulators for the first time in 2015.