Cybercrime brings many problems to ordinary users, but also creates new jobs. According to Cybersecurity Ventures forecast , in the next four years 3.5 million new jobs will appear in the information security sector (3.5 times more open vacancies than at present).

The information security industry is experiencing a real boom. For example, in the USA, the number of open positions in the information security for 2015-2017 increased from 209 thousand to 350 thousand, that is, by 67%. Similar processes are underway in Russia and other countries: information security is on the rise. In 2017, companies around the world spent $ 86.4 billion on information security ( Gartner statistics ).

But the medal has two sides. Such statistics does not mean at all that networks will become more secure and safer. Maybe the opposite. The security industry is trying to defend itself against new and new threats. The number of hackers, cybercrime, malware, espionage, hacks and data leaks - all this is growing much faster than the number of "defenders" from the information security sector. Not to mention the fact that the technical qualification of “black” (black-hat) hackers often exceeds the qualifications of those information security specialists who have studied computer literacy at the university. Hackers creatively use new technologies and constantly come up with new attack vectors.
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What problems will the IS specialists face in the near future? What to prepare for?

GlobalSign presented a list of five issues and trends in information security that can be expected in 2018.

1. Evolution of cryptographers

Cryptoshackers (ransomware) are still one of the fastest growing areas of cybercrime. The number of attacks in 2017 increased by 36% (and the damage doubled). Experts do not predict a decrease in intensity, there will only be more attacks.

Unfortunately, many companies still do not anticipate developments in the worst case scenario. At 20% of companies do not have a recovery plan , that is, they do not backup. In the event of an infection, they will lose all their data, applications, customer information, etc. They will actually have one way out - to pay the attackers and hope that they will provide the keys to decrypt the information.

2. Expansion of AI to protect against attacks

Experts consider the use of software with data mining and self-learning elements, that is, applications of weak artificial intelligence, to be one of the most promising protection strategies.

Statista has compiled a table with the most promising applications of AI in the coming years. “Perspectivity” in this case is determined by the volume of investments that companies have already made and are planning to make in certain areas of AI in 2016-2025.



The total amount of private investment in all areas of weak AI is estimated at $ 48.5 billion. The most promising areas are static image recognition, object classification and labeling, algorithmic trading, and data mining in healthcare. But the list also includes such a direction as “preventing threats to cybersecurity”. According to the forecast, $ 2.47 billion will be spent on the development of such systems. A considerable amount.

Traditionally, specialists from the information security departments reacted to attacks after the fact. Automated systems of the new generation will be able to analyze traffic and logs in real time: in theory, malicious programs should be blocked even when they are loaded on the server.

Of course, one cannot do without human participation: here the AI ​​system is only an auxiliary tool. Its effectiveness depends on the qualifications of the specialists who set up the system, monitor its work and analyze the results.

3. Threats to the Internet of Things

The number of gadgets in the possession of people is constantly and rapidly growing, and not only with geeks. Almost in every apartment several smartphones and tablets, one or several computers, a TV connected to the Internet or a set-top box (streaming media device in the diagram) are constantly working.


The number of devices connected to the Internet in the homes of Americans. Pew Research Center statistics on the results of the survey for September-November 2016

And this is just the beginning. Nowadays, voice assistants with speech recognition like Amazon Echo and Google Home are becoming fashionable. So far, they do not understand the Russian language, but as soon as Yandex launches its smart column, we, too, will surely become fashionable ( Yandex has been working on this gadget for a year and a half already ). Such a device can order a pizza or call a taxi for your team, put on-demand music or tell the news and weather forecast.

Even refrigerators become “smart” - and can order fresh milk if it has an expiration date .

The problem is that IoT devices are usually less secure than hacking than regular computers. A few years ago, an HP study found that 70% of IoT devices have serious security vulnerabilities . Since then, the situation has not changed much.

4. The Blockchain Revolution

Despite the recent fall in rates, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have become the main event of 2017.

Blockchain - a decentralized and secure transaction record - can be used in various areas of information technology. What does this mean for information security? Experts cannot yet answer this question with a clear answer, but make some assumptions. Most likely, private companies will begin to use the blockchain to store their transactions - and combine these systems with existing solutions in the field of information security. For example, these may be decentralized access control systems and user identity management. Maybe come up with other uses. In any case, the IS systems are likely to change using the blockchain.

5. Vulnerabilities of serverless applications

Experts believe that confidential information is at greatest risk if it is stored not on the server, but on the personal computers of users. Servers are usually better protected than serverless applications.

According to Statista , the most common uses for serverless applications are as follows:

Web services - 65%
Data processing - 34%
Internet tools - 28%
Internet of things - 23%
Chat bots - 23%
Other - 33%

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Every year cybercriminals are becoming more resourceful and quick-witted. This means that the information security specialists cannot in any way relax - they constantly have to develop new protective mechanisms in this endless struggle. In 2018, experts predict the emergence of new cryptogatels, attacks on the infrastructure of the Internet of things and serverless applications, the use of AI systems and the blockchain in the field of cybersecurity. Let's see how these predictions come true.

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