WatchGuard Categorizes 2015 Security Trends Into What (And What Not) To Worry About

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

In an effort to help IT professionals navigate through the convoluted waters of IT security, WatchGuard has issued an infographic that outlines some of the top security trends for 2015 — and also denotes which should be concerns and which should not.

“As security professionals we spend a lot of our time looking for trouble and expecting the worse. And in 2014, there were lots of vulnerabilities and threats to be found such as Heartbleed, Regin and Operation Cleaver,” explained Corey Nachreiner, WatchGuard’s director of security strategy and research in a press release.

“With so much noise in the market, we wanted to help security professionals focus in on what matters the most — and what doesn’t. Hence, five predictions you need to prepare for in 2015, and five you don’t.”

The “Don’t Get All Worked Up” Category

1. The Internet of Everything will NOT bring a rise of machines. Hackers will not be hacking into your televisions or refrigerators any time soon.
2. Cloud adoption will have to slow down as a result of security concerns, and businesses will be more discerning about the use of the cloud to store information.
3. The death of the password is not imminent. Instead, a more realistic prediction for next year is that two-factor authentication will become ubiquitous online and passwords will remain as one of those two factors.
4. Security will continue to take a back seat to innovation, and security professionals will be responsible for weighing the operational benefits of new technologies against their potential security risks.
5. Even though SDN (software-defined networking) will have security implications, they will not be seen in the near future. Despite all the hyperbole, SDN is quite a ways from primetime adoption.

The “Be Concerned” Category

1. The rise of national (and international) cyber defense and attack capabilities, leading to an increase in cyber espionage and the perception of a Cyber Cold War being launched.
2. Malware will make the transition from desktop to mobile devices platforms, and will have a significant impact. In 2015, attackers will find new ways to monetize mobile infections with greater damages.
3. While encryption will finally become more of a default, so will efforts by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to break it. According to WatchGuard, “Security pros must continue to leverage encryption whenever possible; fight for the right to retain private, unbreakable encryption; and build networks that support heavy use of encryption without slowing bandwidth and adversely affecting business.”
4. Cybercriminals will begin targeting business verticals. Modern cybercriminals will target businesses of every size as long as they are part of an interesting, profitable business vertical.

And a final note, the best prevention is education: IT professionals must understand hacker motives in order to defend against them.