2021 Cybercrime Predictions

2020 was a busy year for cyber security professionals as cybercriminals stepped up their efforts. Covid forced many to work from home, giving cyber criminals new turf to attack.

But also for criminals competition increased. Malware operators will probably focus on burying their creations deeper into compromised systems. In the past, attacks against firmware were rare due to the complexity. Nowadays attackers can abuse tools like RwEverything and attack systems which don't have a properly set-up firmware to block unauthorized rewrites. Criminals specialized in ransomware will also likely target firmware to block devices and demand ransom.

Since many companies still have a substantial amount of their employees working from home but have not implemented proper cyber security guidelines, home routers and computers will remain a prime target for hackers.

It will be crucial for companies to set up a full scale security environment covering remote workers, branches, the company's core network and especially intelligent edges.

Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) is also likely to increase. Attackers can now buy packages from cyber criminals in the dark web, covering complete attack scenarios. One vendor offers malware, another one prepares the attack and other offer "phone support" to victims of the ransom attack.

Identity theft is also likely to increase due to Covid, since many banks only offer phone support due to lockdowns. A combination of targeted phishing attacks and OSINT collection using social media, will give attackers enough intelligence to succeed.