Acronis Predictions for 2019

In 2019, more and more businesses will realise that cyber criminals are not their only security threat, according to Ronan McCurtin, senior sales director for Northern Europe, Acronis International GmbH.

Increasingly, state actions will try to breach their systems to steal valuable IP and customer information. Responding to this threat will require new cyber protection measures: strong encryption and blockchain-based authentication of sensitive data, and defences based on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The malware business has become commercialised in a way we have never seen before. It is easy and cheap to buy ready-made kits on the dark web to help break into private servers, hold user data for ransom, steal personal information, etc. There is a growing army of cyber criminals who do not even need to have great tech skills to do their dirty work. This means 2019 will almost certainly see many more of these kinds of massive breaches, definitely not fewer.

Finally, more and more people will start realising that social media platforms are not about serving consumers but exploiting them by collecting personal data for ad targeting. Too many consumers still think they are the customer, when in fact they are the product.