Remote Workers and IT Companies Will Be Disproportionately Targeted by Cybercriminals in 2021

Like most illegal schemes, cyberattacks have the potential to generate big money. Cybercriminals are like the tech world’s mafia, and they’ve discovered that ransom from their cyberattacks can regularly make them significant cash. Cybercriminals will commonly take control or actually steal databases and other intellectual property (aka exfiltration) and hold this exfiltrated data hostage to achieve a large ransom from the compromised company. 

Cyber protection powerhouse Acronis recently released its latest Cyberthreats Report, which is highlighted by a bold prediction: data exfiltration is predicted to outpace data encryption, with remote workers and managed service providers the primary target of cyberattackers. Beyond this preliminary prediction, the report provides a detailed review of the current threat landscape and projections as we head into the new year.

So, what are the takeaways for your business?

1. A shift to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified protection and security challenges for 2020 and will continue to be a challenge heading into 2021.
2. Attacks against remote workers will increase.
3. 2021 will be the year of aggressive cybercrime activity, as financial challenges from 2020 lay the groundwork for greater cybercrime motivation. 
4. Expect cybercriminals to pivot their attacks from data encryption to data exfiltration in 2021. 
5. Attackers will look for new victims, and the process will become even more automated. 
6. Ransomware attacks will likely be the greatest threat to your business in 2021 and require additional security and prevention measures. 

According to the report, “more than 1,000 companies globally had their data leaked following a ransomware attack in 2020.” That’s a BIG number. 

Whether due to the pandemic or to a general realization of the financial potential of cybercrimes, your business should expect a growing trend of cybercriminals seeking to maximize their financial gain in 2021.

What’s more, security solutions will struggle to keep up in an ever-changing cybersecurity landscape. Traditional anti-malware solutions are struggling to block new malware that enters the threat landscape, as they cannot keep up with the latest developments and the frequency of such attacks.

At PK Tech, we make it our mission to proactively learn and monitor the most aggressive and up-to-date malware solutions for our clients. If your business is concerned about your IT security infrastructure heading into 2021, now is the time to evaluate. PK Tech offers IT Assessments, where we take a comprehensive look at your existing IT infrastructure and provide recommendations for improvement. Get in touch if you’re interested in receiving an assessment of your business.