Indian businesses need to be prepared to deal with magnified level of Cyber Security threats in 2017

CALIFORNIA, U.S. - As the end of 2016 draws near - cyber security experts are claiming that the dramatic year for the world will be remembered as being one of the most charged up and hyperactive year online in recent times. 

The end of the year also brings with it some dramatic predictions of what lies ahead in 2017. 

In its Security Predictions for 2017, California-based firm Symantec has warned of the looming cyber threats and worries that lie ahead - especially for firms in India. 

The report warned that enterprises of all sizes and consumers in India are at equal risk.

It added that with the proliferation of the Cloud Generation, enterprises will need to shift their focus from safeguarding endpoint devices toward protecting users and information across all applications and services.

The report reveals an organisational shift by cybercriminals that indicated that they are increasingly adopting corporate best practices and establishing professional businesses in order to increase the efficiency of their attacks.

Amongst the many threats that the country’s businesses need to worry about are the increased number of dronejacking and fileless infections that are set to increase in 2017. 

A Symantec executive said that the warning comes in the light of advanced criminal attack groups that have now begun to echo the skill sets of nation-state attackers.

Tarun Kaura, Director of Solutions Product Management - Asia Pacific & Japan at Symantec said in a statement, “As businesses in India embrace the digital transformation, fileless malware among others will be some of the prevalent trends and threats in the upcoming year.”

Symantec explained that in 2017 - fileless infections, defined as those written directly onto a computer's RAM without using files of any kind and are difficult to detect. The report said these infections often elude intrusion prevention and antivirus programmes - are set to go up.

Further, with the increasing use of drones this year, 2017 is reportedly set to witnesses the use of these devices for espionage and explosive attacks. 

Further, the report warns that the increase use of mobile phones amongst the workforces - the need to protest an on-premise network will become increasingly short sighted.

Symantec predicts, “The need for firewalls to defend a singular network becomes unnecessary if it is connected to the cloud. All enterprises will start to move towards wi-fi and cloud-based services, rather than investing in expensive and unnecessary network solutions.”

It further predicts that targeted ransomware attacks are also likely to increase in 2017.

It says that machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) too are set to witness continued growth. 

Market research firm Forrester has predicted that investment in AI would grow 300 percent in 2017 alone.

Citing Symantec's recently released Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), Kaura added, “Each year, the security industry faces new types of threats as cybercriminals evolve their approach toward accessing organisations' data.” 

Amongst the more grave of the warnings issued by Symantec is one that states a dangerous possibility that rogue nation states could align with organised crime for their personal gain - which eventually could topple countries' political, military or financial systems.