Focused and targeted attacks are expected to rise in 2012. Large corporations, financial institutions such as banks are likely to be targeted for non-financial information, with repurposed malware applications. Mozilla Firefox users are encourged to keep up with the install updates to prevent attacks with use of malicious javascripts.
According to McAfee’s “2012 Threats Predictions” (.pdf) report, “Controlling hardware is the promised land of sophisticated attackers. If attackers can insert code that alters the boot order or loading order of the operating system, they will gain greater control and can maintain long-term access to the system and its data.”
Security experts’ top recommendation is to keep up with the updates of both hardware and software. Columbia University researchers demonstrated how HP printer vulnerabilities could be used by cybercriminals to gain access to corporate networks. So, there are new and innovative methods to infiltrate weak access points be it software or hardware. Retailers should be particularly aware of the security standards so hiding behind ignorance or staying below the radar is not an option.
