Mike Wilson is the Founder & CTO of Enzoic, a cybersecurity company that helps prevent account takeover of employee and customer accounts.
We’ve recently come out of another year of escalating uncertainty. The wars in Ukraine and Israel have shown no signs of ending, ensuring a volatile geopolitical landscape in 2024. Additionally, the rapid adoption of generative AI is fueling a new method of exploitation. I expect that breaches, ransomware threats, rising regulation and AI-fueled tactics won’t let up in the year ahead and will continue to dominate cybersecurity headlines with alarming frequency.
Therefore, it’s vital that organizations are cognizant of the evolving landscape and proactively strengthen their security arsenal. To help shine a light on what’s on the horizon for cybersecurity, let’s dive into some of the trends I expect to come to fruition in 2024.
Regulations That Bite, Ending The Era Of Security Theater
Current security legislation relies on trust rather than verification. And with few consequences for failing to adhere, cybercrime continues to flourish. However, given the growing size of the problem, this is set to change. Stringent regulations and consequences for failing to adhere have recently been passed or are expected to be instituted this year to ensure that organizations take action to mitigate cyber risks. These include the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Final Rule, updated in December 2023, which aims to ensure that public companies disclose cybersecurity incidents in a timely and transparent manner. Globally, the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act, “which will require all digital products sold in the EU to meet minimum cybersecurity standards,” is due to take effect early this year.
The era of paying only lip service to legislation is thankfully coming to an end.
The AI Hype Machine Grinds To A Halt
Although AI can be a powerful tool, its current potential has been overhyped, and 2024 will see it fall back to earth in some ways. In particular, although generative AI was disruptive in 2023, it’s foolish to assume its capabilities will continue to expand at the same rate. Progress will undoubtedly slow down for at least a couple of years before there’s another stair-step increase in capabilities. Therefore, don’t assume that AI is a panacea to every possible cybersecurity issue. I believe that it will be the 2030s before most of its much-hyped potential becomes a reality in this area.
AI Apps: Giving Away The Crown Jewels For Free
An array of AI applications have been released and widely adopted. Many of these, such as ChatGPT, have free versions, and users share their data with little thought about security. For example, AI apps that create headshots involve individuals sharing potential biometric data. As this land grab continues, bad actors will inevitably double down on exploiting the data in these applications.
Open-Source Under A Microscope
Open-source software is increasingly pervasive, but it has yet to be a focus for hackers. With a study uncovering that more than 80% of “all open-source software components are inherently risky due to vulnerabilities, security issues, code equality or maintainability concerns,” it’s increasingly likely that a significant attack will happen soon. The subsequent attention and fallout will, hopefully, result in a concerted industry effort to fix the inherent flaws.
The IoT Continues To Disrupt The Security Landscape
With connected devices and systems increasingly involved in every aspect of our lives, it’s shining a spotlight on the need for standards to ensure a consistent approach to security worldwide. IoT labeling will continue to expand across the globe to help address vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of a successful attack.
With 5G and 6G looming, this will fuel more sophisticated connected machines and systems like increasingly autonomous transportation, including planes, trains and automobiles. This, in turn, presents cybercriminals with more attack surfaces to exploit and will sound the death knell for reviewing security at the end of product development life cycles.
In 2024, widespread generative AI use, expanding attack avenues, the upcoming U.S. election, economic uncertainty and global conflicts will undoubtedly present an array of new cybersecurity challenges and threats. That’s one prediction that we all can agree on!
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