7. Financial Services, Healthcare Firms Will Remain In The Crosshairs Of Attackers
The increasing interconnectivity of medical devices introduces challenges for data security, serving as an easy network entry point for attackers, said RunSafe Security Founder and CEO Joe Saunders. When protected health information is stolen, attackers are able to gain access to medical information, which can in turn be used to illegally obtain prescriptions, said Mimecast Security Strategist Bob Adams.
But it was financial services that had the highest cost of cybercrime in 2017, with annualized costs exceeding $18 million, said ForeScout Chief Strategy Officer Pedro Abreu. Small to mid-size banks will remain a favorite target of criminals since they possess large amounts of money and often don't invest heavily in security, said Leigh-Anne Galloway, cybersecurity resilience lead at Positive Technologies.
Spending on security has historically been lower among biotech and pharma firms relative to other tightly regulated industries like financial services, said Illumio Founder and CTO PJ Kirner. Kirner anticipates these firms will shore up their basic data center security hygiene, security governance practices, and adaptive security measures and policies in the coming year.
