Malware, IoT botnets, and supply chain attacks loom large as future threats

Cyber criminals will become more targeted in the coming years as threat actors develop the tools to specifically target victims at their core, according to Kaspersky.

The security firm said that supply chain attacks will continue to grow in strength, hoping to take down core network infrastructure. Although it's a relatively new target, Kaspersky thinks the number of attacks will increase fairly rapidly. 

Mobile malware is another type of threat that will grow in intensity. Kaspersky thinks that threat actors not already making use of mobile malware will start adding it to their campaigns and this will lead to continuous threats.

Internet of Things (IoT) botnets will grow stronger and spear phishing attacks will make use of vast swathes of data stolen from the likes of Facebook and Instagram, the firm predicted, suggesting using this data will make criminals' campaigns more effective.

"In 2018, threat actors have led to new paradigms. Public awareness has grown and expert investigations have highlighted big cyber-operations, making the topic front page news across the world," said Vicente Diaz, security researcher at Kaspersky Lab.

"This will lead to a change in the cyber-landscape, as sophisticated threat actors seek silence and obscurity for their attacks in order to increase the likelihood of success. This shift makes the finding of new, large-scale, sophisticated operations very unlikely, and will definitely take the art of detection and attribution to the next level."

Kaspersky Lab's Targeted Threat Predictions for 2019 explained that there will be two types of cyber criminals coming to the surface in 2019: those seasoned hackers that are developing sophisticated attacks focused on causing damage while staying under the radar and newcomers from South East Asia and the Middle East that will be much more visible, leading more energetic and visible attacks.