In 2019, attackers will stop at nothing to steal our identities, evade detection through new techniques, and bring disruption to our doorsteps.

The stakes are high, the world more connected than we could have ever imagined.

Forcepoint , a 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Winner for Best IT Data Management Solution, has unveiled the company’s 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report, with security specialists, behavioral intelligence researchers and data scientists providing guidance on the sophisticated threats facing organizations in the months to come.

The report identifies seven areas where risks will increase in 2019, with Forcepoint experts taking a deep dive into technology trends and the motivation behind cyber-attacks, so that business and government leaders, and their respective security teams can better prepare to face the new wave of threats.

Enterprises and governments are facing a hyper-converged world where connected systems put not only critical data and intellectual property but also put physical safety at risk.

(Hear from Carl Leonard, Principal IT Security Analyst at Forcepoint, discussing Industrial IoT Disruption in the 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report. Courtesy of Forcepoint and YouTube.)

The report explores these areas and concludes that when people can collaborate in a trusted manner, leveraging data creatively and freely through technology, businesses can securely innovate to create value.

“The cybersecurity industry and attackers expend efforts in a never-ending cycle of breach, react, and circumvent—a true cat-and-mouse game,” explains Raffael Marty, vice president of research and intelligence, Forcepoint.

“We need to escape this game. Researching these predictions forces us to step back and see the overall forest among the millions of trees.”

“Cybersecurity professionals and business leaders need to adapt to changes based on the risk they represent, allowing them to free the good while still stopping the bad.”

Grappling with Digital Transformation and Trust 

The 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions report explores the impact of businesses putting their trust in cloud providers on faith, the impact of end-user trust in securing personal data using biometrics and the potential impact of cascading of trust throughout a supply chain.

(Hear from Duncan Brown, Sr. Director of Security Strategist at Forcepoint, discussing Digital Trust in the 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report. Courtesy of Forcepoint and YouTube.)

In a survey of Forcepoint customers[i], 94%[ii] identified security when moving to the cloud as an important issue. 58% are actively looking for trust-worthy providers with a strong reputation for security and 31% are limiting the amount of data placed in the cloud due to security concerns.[iii]

“One way to increase trust and gain control is through behavioral modeling of users or, more specifically, their digital identities, to understand the reasons behind their activity,” Marty continued.

“Understanding how a user acts on the network and within applications can identify behavioral anomalies that help inform risk-adaptive responses.”

Forcepoint Predictions: Seven Areas of Risk in 2019 include:

Driven to the Edge

• Consumers exhausted by breaches and abuse of their personal data have led organizations to introduce new privacy safeguards in the services they provide.
• Edge computing offers consumers more control of their data by keeping it on their smartphone or laptop.
• But solutions today must overcome a lack of consumer trust that data will not be leaked to the cloud if they are to succeed.

(Hear from Dr. Richard Ford, Chief Scientist at Forcepoint, discussing ‘Driven to the Edge’ in the 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report. Courtesy of Forcepoint and YouTube.)

A Collision Course to Cyber Cold War

• Espionage has always presented a way for nation-states to acquire new technology but as opportunities for legitimate access dwindle because of the increase in trade protections, people on the other side of embargoes will have real incentive to acquire it by nefarious means.
• How will organizations keep intellectual property out of the hands of nation-state-sponsored hackers?

(Hear from Luke Somerville, Head of Special Investigations at Forcepoint, speaking to a collision course to ‘Cyber Cold War’ in the 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report. Courtesy of Forcepoint and YouTube.)

The Winter of AI

• If AI is about reproducing cognition, does cybersecurity AI really exist?
• How will attackers capitalize on a slowdown of AI funding?
• When we trust in algorithms and analytics to successfully pilot automobiles, provide insight into healthcare decisions and alert security professionals to potential data loss incidents, how far should that trust go?
• Will vendor claims around AI effectiveness hold up against the reality of sophisticated cyberattacks?

(Hear directly from Raffael Marty, Vice President of Research and Intelligence at Forcepoint, discussing the Winter of AI in the 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report. Courtesy of Forcepoint and YouTube.)

A Counterfeit Reflection

• As phishing attacks persist, hacker tricks such as “SIM Swaps” undermine the effectiveness of some two-factor authentication (2FA) methods such as text messaging.
• Biometrics offer additional security by using data more unique to each end-user, but newfound vulnerabilities in facial recognition software lead experts to put faith into behavioral biometrics.

(Hear from Nico Fischbach, Global Chief Technology Officer at Forcepoint, speaking to ‘A Counterfeit Reflection’ in the 2019 Forcepoint Cybersecurity Predictions Report. Courtesy of Forcepoint and YouTube.)

Forcepoint Takes Home the Gold in 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program

• Best IT Data Management Solution

• Forcepoint Dynamic Data Protection

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is specifically designed to honor distinguished government and vendor solutions that deliver enhanced value, benefit and intelligence to end users in a variety of government, homeland security and public safety vertical markets.

Over 130 distinguished guests representing National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Firms, gathered from across North America, Europe and the Middle East to be honored among their peers in their respective fields which included:

• The Department of Homeland Security Federal Protective Service (FPS)
• Argonne National Laboratory
• The Department of Homeland Security
• The Department of Justice
• The Security Exchange Commission Office of Personnel Management
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Viasat, Hanwha Techwin, Lenel, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Verint, Canon U.S.A., BriefCam, Pivot3, Milestone Systems, Allied Universal, Ameristar Perimeter Security and More!

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards is the preeminent U.S. Homeland Security Awards Program highlighting the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking security solutions coming onto the market today, to ensure our readers have the information they need to stay ahead of the competition, and keep our Nation safe – one facility, street, and city at a time.

The 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program was Proudly Sponsored by ATI Systems, Attivo Networks, Automatic Systems, Desktop Alert, and Royal Holdings Technologies.