Mobile will top hackers' agenda in 2014

Mobile devices will become the vector of choice for targeted attacks in 2014, and the world should expect one major headline-grabbing data breach per month.

So says Sanjay Mehta, managing director for Trend Micro Australia and New Zealand, who counts these among his top security predictions for the coming year.

Mehta expects cybercriminals to increasingly employ targeted attack methodologies including highly customised spear phishing campaigns. “Mobile devices will increasingly become the attack vector of choice. Threat actors will target any device to get in to their target networks. This means that wearable devices like smart watches will also become new targets,” Mehta said.

With mobile banking poised to take off in 2014, so too will mobile threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks, he predicted. As attackers turn their attention to the mobile money ecosystem, basic two-step authentication will cease to be a sufficient security mechanism.

“New OSs like Tizen, Sailfish and Firefox that boast of having an Android compatibility layer will enter the mobile market. On the upside, this layer will allow Android apps to run on the OSs but may also make it easier for cybercriminals to create multiplatform threats.”

Mehta also expects more major data breaches on the horizon. He predicts there will be one major front page-worthy breach worldwide per month in 2014.

In 2014 cybercriminals are expected to increasingly turn their attention to software-based vulnerabilities as fewer exploits are found in operating systems. With Microsoft officially ending support for XP next year, for example, Mehta believes there will be a pick-up in attacks targeting the ageing OS.

Privacy will meanwhile continue to be a major issue in 2014 in light of the Snowden revelations, which could morph into public distrust over US infrastructure among foreign governments. But at the same time, Mehta believes more types of state-level monitoring will occur.

Finally, Mehta predicts that cybercriminals will make small technological innovations in the field of the Internet of Things. Devices such as game consoles and RF-enabled technologies will be targeted, but there will be no major breakthroughs in cybercrime. “Cybercriminals will continue to wait for the ‘killer app’, that one technological breakthrough that will get mass appeal,” he said.

Pictured: Trend Micro's Sanjay Mehta.