Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

The digital age has immense promise to change lives, increase productivity in terms of improving efficiencies and making the dollar last longer. Being connected through our devices and having many conveniences brought on by technology has its perks. Big Data Analytics promises solutions and opportunities for many world problems. The opposite side of that coin, is in malware. There is an almost direct effect between the expanding realm of digitization and analytics and malware infiltration.

Panda Security’s analysis on top Cyber Risks of 2017 show that data breaches, information theft and hacker extortion were a rampant phenomenon throughout 2016. They give a quick breakdown on what to look out for in 2017 that would keep you vigilant and hopefully able to thwart an attack.

Connected devices that number in the billions, from hand held smart phones to driverless cars and one maned drones, all made possible through the advances in Big Data technology, provide an enormous platform for malware and hackers to wreak havoc. Just imagining the ramifications of a car or drone being controlled by a hacker is mortifying.

Phishing attacks seem to have taken on a much more sophisticated role in infiltrating emails. According to Panda, they have seen numerous reports on attacks just this year alone. That doesn’t bode well for corporations and individuals depending solely upon email communication to conduct business and daily activities. Extra precautions need to be put in place, barring the worst.

Another one to look out for is a state-sponsored cyber espionage. The tongue-twister of a term is what was believed to have been part of the recent electoral debate on the presidency of the United States. The hackers will be utilising big data tools in order to crunch the massive amounts of emails and search for keywords that will be red flagged. Claims that the presidency was won through state-sponsored espionage are rampant. Whether it does effect elections adversely is yet to be seen and determined. However, it means governments will need to be even more accountable and transparent in their actions.

Hacker extortion sounds like a new type of crime but one that has been extremely effective. Made even more possible through easily connected devices. With all recorded extortion case victims paying up their sums to the hackers, this is nothing short of highway robbery with no possibility of face recognition since the perpetrators aren’t even there in person! Who are the victims? Hospitals, corporations and individuals leveraging on the latest technologies and data centers are those who get locked out of their own systems and can only gain access by paying up the extortion fees. With a 100% success rate record, the extortionists look like they are on easy street until a policy or way to police these cyber criminals is found.

Here is another big data tool that can be turned against us. Just when you thought you still have a way to protect your phone and keyless entry points though biometric coding, is when you learn that cyber criminals are nothing short of geniuses in hacking. According to the report, a Japanese researcher discovered that hackers are able to extract biometric information when people pose for photos using the peace sign. Biometric coding also allows easy access to information which otherwise you would need to carry around with a high possibility of loss which in turn will incur much inconvenience towards replacing documents. A much needed convenience turns into an all-in-one access point for criminal minds to rob.

As the digital era continues to grow and expand, so does the need to protect and invigilate data that is shared in confidence for reasons of health, businesses or personal needs. It is strange to think that the birth of Big Data Analytics, which has so much promise for a better world, has also opened up the very doors for crime. The onus now lies with security companies working together with authorities to take serious steps in mitigating these issues in security lapses. Though many security companies promise prevention over a cure, with how cyber crime happens currently, the vendors along with the authorities can only wait for the next hack to happen before looking for ways to thwart them.

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