Forecast 2016: Android attacks and large-scale infections are among the main security threats.

Published forecasts of the main problems of IT security in 2016 from the manufacturer of cloud-based security solutions Panda Security . The coming year will be filled with threats that could adversely affect home users, small companies and large corporations.

The volume of creation and distribution of new types of malware designed to infect users will continue to grow exponentially, as we observed in 2015, when the number of samples of new malicious programs recorded daily reached a mark of 230,000.
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During 2016, an increase in the number of infections through JavaScript is projected, as well as an increase in the number of cyber crimes using Powershell is a utility included in Windows 10 that allows you to run scripts with all types of functions that can be used to launch attacks against users.

Large-scale attacks on mobile devices

Cyber ​​criminals are looking for ways that allow them to carry out attacks on the largest number of users and businesses in order to achieve the highest possible profits.

In this regard, they will continue to use tools like Exploit Kits , because Many modern solutions are not able to effectively deal with this type of attack - and this means that very high levels of infection are possible. For the same reason, the number of malicious programs for mobile devices will also increase, especially for Android, which is the most popular operating system in this sector of the market.



“Although attacks on Android have become commonplace in previous years, the new 2016 will see new ways of infecting mobile devices. We will see even more threats that will be introduced into the device, which will make the task of eliminating the virus virtually impossible for the antivirus, with the exception of those that were pre-installed at the factory, ”said Luis Corrons, Technical Director of the PandaLabs antivirus laboratory.
There will also be an increase in direct attacks through rootkit-based techniques that allow hackers to hide their attacks from the operating system or security solutions.

Internet of Things and Mobile Payments

2016 will be the year in which the Internet of things will actively flourish, and there will be more and more Internet-connected devices in the world.

With this in mind, cyber criminals will attack these devices, as we saw in 2015 in the case of cars whose software was connected to the Internet, as a result of which hackers managed to gain remote control over the machines.

Payment platforms on mobile devices will be under scrutiny, because cyber criminals will try to take advantage of them to implement a simple way to steal users' money.



“If any of the platforms becomes more popular than others, it will become the first platform to be attacked by hackers in search of weak spots in its system,” continues Luis Corrons.

Key Security Challenges

In the current situation, when the number of threats is growing exponentially, attacks are becoming more complex and sophisticated, home users and businesses will have to take additional security measures in order to remain protected from the dangers of the Internet in 2016.



Moreover, for enterprises there are also threats that can seriously damage their business reputation and lead to huge financial losses. Cyber ​​criminals will make it their goal to steal confidential information related to the company (financial data, strategic plans, etc.), and even information that belongs to their clients. After they can get such information, they will try to blackmail the company to pay a ransom to return this information — a method that is often used already, known as Cryptolocker.

To adequately deal with the complexity of such attacks and other threats that we expect to see in 2016, home users and businesses will need to have security tools and solutions that can analyze and classify the behavior of all executable files and processes, as well as offer advanced protection options. to prevent and counter new security threats.