Trend Micro has no doubts: in the 2021 we will see an increase in targeted attacks against cloud systems and software to work remotely . A predictable trend in many ways: now that workers are outside the corporate perimeter, attackers will focus on the most vulnerable home networks, particularly by targeting HT and sales managers, who have access to information about coveted customers. to hackers. But also against health structures, in particular those where telemedicine is applied, and e-commerce. What is striking are the modalities of these attacks, which will exploit not only zero-day bugs but also known vulnerabilities. The preferred attack vector will be APIs, according to Trend Micro’s Turning de Tide report, which contains the safety forecast for 2021.

Home networks will be among the main targets of hackers in the 2021

Lo smart working , the spread of which was a response to the pandemic to ensure business continuity, has proven to have positive aspects in terms of productivity, but also has some critical issues in terms of safety. Smart working employees connect through common ISPs, using consumer-grade routers, which do not offer the same levels of protection as corporate systems. This is also pushing a new way of attacking: on the one hand, criminals will search for vulnerabilities in the most used software, and not necessarily zero-day , but also exploiting those n-day , bug known threats, tools and vulnerabilities and taking advantage of the fact that not all users apply security patches frequently. A simple approach, for an attacker, since information on known vulnerabilities is widely disseminated on the net, also accompanied by the exploits needed to exploit them. Not only that: Trend Micro does not exclude the possibility of real marketplaces specialized in n-day vulnerabilities , with exploits made to measure, which will also open the way to attackers with little technical skills, who will limit themselves to using tools made by others.

Another trend that is rapidly spreading is that of Access-as-a-Service: criminals sell their “peers” access to compromised routers, particularly those belonging to IT administrators or executives.

The pandemic pushes e-commerce and telemedicine

Covid – 19 gave a huge boost to e-commerce, which is not escaped from attackers, who will try to monetize by trying to sabotage production, but also by exploiting these channels to smuggle goods or transport counterfeit products.

Even more worrying is the attention that criminals will pay to health facilities, both the laboratories where vaccines are developed, which will risk seeing their activity slowed down by attackers in search of data to steal, and the structures that provide telemedicine services.

Also the diffusion of contact tracing apps is a potential danger, also due to the haste with which these solutions were implemented, which increases the risk of seeing this data exposed or not very protected.

Bees as preferred attack vector

“ With the increasing presence of API in the enterprise space, their attack surface will become more visible. APIs are set to be a prime target as they also serve for third-party integration, and we expect API security to be a new area of ​​concern for cybercriminals in 2021 “, specify the ratio.

Trend Micro points out that APIs are lagging behind in terms of security, and can introduce vulnerabilities that can be exploited to breach corporate applications , also because traditional defense mechanisms such as Captcha, JavaScript or SDK tools for mobile environments cannot be used effectively to prevent an automated attack or.