Cyber criminals to step up attack in 2020; these types of businesses most vulnerable next year

Attackers targeting online payment processing systems will grow. (Image: Reuters)

Investment apps, digital financial data processing systems and upcoming cryptocurrencies are likely to be targeted by the ‘financially motivated cyber threat actors’ in 2020, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky. “Financial cyber threats are considered to be some of the most dangerous ones, as the impact they bring usually results in the direct financial losses for victims,” the company said sharing predictions on the possible growth of the threat landscape in the financial sector. As mobile investment apps have gained acceptance globally among users, not every app has the best security practice in place such as multi-factor authentication. This is likely to let cyber attackers target users of these apps. 

Kaspersky also said in the new year, there is a probability of an increase in the “activity of groups specialized in the criminal-to-criminal sale of network access to banks in the African and Asian regions, as well as in Eastern Europe,” the company said. The target for these groups is small banks along with financial companies recently acquired by large ones that are “rebuilding their cybersecurity system in accordance with the standards of their parent companies.” Same banks may also be targeted with ransomware attacks since organisations like banks are more likely to pay a ransom than accept the loss of data, Kaspersky said.

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“With 2020 on the horizon, we recommend security teams in potentially affected areas of the finance industry to gear up for new challenges. There is nothing inevitable in potential upcoming threats, it is just important to be properly prepared for them” says Yuriy Namestnikov, Security Researcher at Kaspersky said in a statement.

Moreover, attackers targeting online payment processing systems will grow in number as JS-skimming (stealing data from payment card from online stores) has become popular among such attackers. Businesses operating in areas including e-commerce as-a-service will face the most dangerous attacks. The Indian cybersecurity market is likely to grow from $1.97-billion size in 2019 to $3.05 billion by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate of 15.6 per cent — almost one and a half times the global rate, said a December report by the PwC and Data Security Council of India.