With large investments in research and development, Bitdefender Labs discovers 400 threats per minute and finds 30 billion threats every day. It has now compiled a list of the top 5 cybersecurity threats for the current year:

1. Ransomware will continue to dominate the realm of threats and will become the most lucrative cybercrime, just as it was during the year 2021. In the case of the United States alone, the U.S. Treasury says it has involved a payment of $5.2 million in the last year alone.

It is expected that there will be an increase in the number of Ransomware as a Service (Raas) attacks focused on the exfiltration of data for extortion purposes, as well as the so-called stealthy malware which is kept inactive for periods of time before encrypting the data.

2. Sustained attacks by governments will have a major impact on society. Political tensions could have a big effect on the cybersecurity sphere as governments compete for digital supremacy.

It is likely that 2022 will be the year of cyber-attacks against critical infrastructures, seeking to disrupt not only public services, but also parts of the Internet. Similarly, hacking initiatives can be seen around the world, especially against states that provide cybercriminals with a safe harbour for digital crimes targeting U.S. or European institutions.

3. There could be an increase in supply chain attacks and zero-day vulnerabilities. Unlike other threats, supply chain attacks are quieter, harder to stop and spread faster.

4. Data breaches will result in an increase in commercial attacks. As personal information stolen in data breaches becomes more accessible to cybercriminals, spam campaigns will become much more targeted.

Scams during 2022 will likely capitalise on pandemic-imposed online recruitment processes. Cybercriminals may start impersonating companies to trick potential candidates and thus infecting devices through attachments.

In addition, cybercrime operators will likely use this remote work opportunity to recruit unsuspecting job seekers for illegal activities, such as money smuggling.

5. Internet of things (IoT), web infrastructure and black markets: this year is likely to see a significant increase in attacks on cloud infrastructures, including those hosted by Tier 1 providers.

An increase in black market activity in terms of trafficking illegal substances is also expected.

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