COSTA MESA, Calif.—A new forecast is predicting that cyber crooks in 2016 will increase their focus on crimes that damage the reputation of the companies they attack.
Experian Data Breach Resolution is providing the forecast of what could take place in 2016 with its third annual Data Breach Industry Forecast white paper. Leveraging the company’s experience in handling more than 3,000 data breaches this year as well as conversations with leading experts, the white paper outlines five key predictions.
While some current issues remain relevant, there are a few emerging areas that organizations should watch out for to be better prepared, Experian stated.
“We saw different types of breaches this year, and one of the major mistakes companies often make is taking a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Michael Bruemmer, vice president at Experian Data Breach Resolution. “Unfortunately, the reality is that no data breach is the same, and a wide variety of unique circumstances need to be considered in a data breach response plan.”
What’s to come in 2016? Here are a few of the topics the white paper addresses:
Consumers and businesses will be collateral damage in cyber conflicts among countries
“Cybercrime is no longer the only concern when it comes to data breaches. As nation-states continue to move their conflicts and espionage efforts to the digital world, we likely will see more incidents aimed at stealing corporate and government secrets or disrupting military operations,” said Bruemmer. “Such attacks can cause collateral damage in the form of exposed information for millions of individuals or stolen business IP addresses. We also may see an increase in large public-sector data breaches that expose millions of personal records.”
Hacktivism will make a comeback
“In the coming year, we likely will see a resurgence in hacktivist activities, motivated by the desire to effect reputational damage on a company or a cause,” said Bruemmer. “A few recent high-profile attacks provide an idea of what may come. No longer merely motivated by financial gain, criminals steal data to glean information that can be used for blackmail or extortion. This changes the response plan, and companies must consider all possible scenarios.”
2016 U.S. presidential candidates and campaigns will be attractive hacking targets
With the looming 2016 U.S. presidential election dominating media coverage, one of the presidential candidates, their campaigns and/or major donor bases likely will be hacked. As campaigns today are won and lost online and driven by Big Data analytics, the potential for a politically motivated attack is significant, Bruemmer said.
“We would be remiss if we did not mention this national occurrence as a possible target,” said Bruemmer. “For a fame-hungry criminal or motivated detractor, this is an attractive platform. It could happen with any activity on a national or global stage so leaders involved must ensure they are securing their systems and have incident response plans in place.”