2020 was a year of unexpected developments and changes. One change that most of us saw at least in some capacity was the mass shift to telecommuting, or another might have been our increased dependence on electronic forms of, well, everything. The world was already digital, but the pandemic certainly kicked the transition into high gear. While we can't predict much of what will happen this year, we can use the developments on the electronic front last year to help predict at least some potential areas of concern as far as cybersecurity is involved.
One such area might be the security holes that exist in current telecommuting and remote working infrastructure. While many parts of the apparatus are secure, there are some glaring weaknesses that will likely need to be addressed, especially now that so many people are working from home (and will likely stay working from home, even after the pandemic ends). We've seen lots of instances of Zoom raiding over the course of this year, where people have managed to hijack the Zoom calls of some educational institutions and wreak havoc. The holes that allow someone to breach and hijack calls (or, perhaps infiltrate and eavesdrop on them) must be fixed if telecommuting is going to receive the same or greater usage this year.
5G is another potential area for concern, though not for the reasons you may be thinking. The 5G protocol is intended to be much faster and more secure than 3G or 4G, but it certainly will not be perfect. The faster speeds are good for consumers and legitimate users, though they also benefit cybercriminals and will allow them to work faster to infect users and exfiltrate data. And as with any new platform, there are sure to be major security flaws that will only be uncovered once it is under widespread use.
It's important to be forward-thinking and look to the future when it comes to cybersecurity. The threat landscape is constantly evolving, and it is the responsibility of both the end users and the vendors to make responsible security practices their priority. If you want to learn more about the threats that some experts are anticipating in 2021, check out this article on Forbes.