A digital privacy expert predicts how cybersecurity will look next year
In 2022, governments fought wars online, businesses were affected by multiple ransomware gangs, and regular users’ data was constantly on hackers’ radar.
Marijus Briedis is Chief Technical Officer (CTO) NordVPN, says, “Next year will not be any easier when it comes to keeping users’ data safe and private. Hackers and authoritarian countries are trying to compromise these factors. However, I see the light at the end of the tunnel because people are starting to value their data, pushing businesses and governments to take action.”
Every year, digital privacy specialists at NordVPN assess cybersecurity trends — these are the top seven that made the New Year’s security prediction list.
- 5G will bring more cybersecurity challenges.Hackers will always find ways to exploit new technology. 5G will allow users to connect faster, but it will also mean that hackers will have more access to the infrastructure. It will be more difficult to prevent this due to the shortage of cybersecurity professionals worldwide.
- Bye-bye, third-party cookies. Google promised to end third-party cookie use in Chrome browsers by 2024. This is great news for those who value their privacy. Third-party cookies are web trackers that collect user data from a variety of websites. This data is used by advertisers to create intrusive and personalized ads. Google is currently exploring new ways to track this flow (such as through FLoC). We can still celebrate the end to intrusive tracking, even though it is impossible to say goodbye to user tracking.
- 2023 will be a significant year for privacy laws. In January 2023, India will discuss its Personal Data Protection Bill — the Indian version of the GDPR. Similar to India, the US may be discussing its American Data Privacy and Protection Act. This will help establish a framework of data protection at the federal and state levels.
- Authoritarian states will further isolate themselves from the WWW. Countries like Iran and Russia are gaining more power to increase surveillance by state actors. Even though many countries are fighting for democracy and freedom, their actions will continue to keep their citizens in the dark.
- Cyberwar is just beginning With China’s leader securing his third term and Russia’s war in Ukraine, many experts predict an increase in state-sponsored cyberattacks. China may increase cyberattacks against Taiwan, Hong Kong and other countries opposed to the regime. Russia is expected to sponsor attacks against countries supporting Ukraine.
- Next era in encryptionEven the most complex encryption algorithms can be broken by quantum computing power in just a few minutes. This is a sign that new, more powerful encryption tools will be required in the future.
- Cybersecurity will be blockchain-based. Blockchain has been extremely useful in secure and decentralized information exchange. Due to the novelty and cost of blockchain-based tools, they have been difficult to implement. Many experts predict that blockchain technology in cybersecurity will become more common in 2023.
