Cybersecurity challenges have continued to morph in 2019.
And expert opinion suggests that the evolution of these challenges will only gain momentum in 2020.
Dr Daniel Prince, associate director of Security Lancaster, Lancaster University’s security research centre, sums the situation up as follows: “Cybersecurity is going to become ever more challenging to deal with - but the general principles of cyber defence remain the same.
“It’s still true that 80 per cent of the threats can be dealt with in four or five simple protective steps.
“I definitely think that over the past year, people have become far more aware of their personal data.
“Society is starting to ask questions - and those questions will drive market forces and ultimately result in changes in business behaviour.”
Digital political interference has been one of the big talking points over the last year.
Dr Rob Hegarty, senior lecturer in computer security and digital forensics at the school of computing, mathematics and digital technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, added: "Recent high profile denial of service (DoS) attacks on both the Labour and Conservative party websites have highlighted the importance of being prepared for a cyber attack, and having an mitigation or recovery plan in place.
"In related news, the Electoral Commission has concluded that Britain's electoral law is not fit for purpose and requires reform in order to address the challenges around transparency in digital advertising in online social media."
Dr Prince continued: “Whether in the Ƶ or in the US, the manipulation and use of personal data by domestic and foreign “actors” has been thrown into stark relief by the bedding in of the GDPR and previous and ongoing ethical concerns over personal data use.
“This has been rumbling on for nearly two years now and discussions around it are increasingly visible in the public domain.
“It is a disruptive concept which could lead to the undermining of public trust in large organisations and the institutions of government that are meant to protect society.”
So, what does 2020 hold in store?
Dr Prince added: “Companies need to prepare for a lack of tolerance in their customers regarding failures in cyber security.
“It is vital these organisations think about cyber security differently, cyber security needs to be at the heart of business.
“Businesses of all types are digitalising, but really companies need to think about secure digitalisation.
“Businesses have been encouraged to think about the customer first, secure digitalisation encourages businesses to think about protecting their customer first.
“This is what we are doing in the Greater Manchester Cyber Foundry - we work with all businesses to put a protected customer at the heart of their business development.”
The Greater Manchester Cyber Foundry is a free programme for small-medium sized businesses (SMEs) to help with business growth, stability and security.
Its focus is on helping SMEs protect their operations and assets along with strengthening their cyber defences.
Dr Hegarty concluded: "2020 is set to be another high profile year for cyber security with the upcoming US election.
"It is important to remember that cyber security is not about simply protecting the infrastructure through the use of technical countermeasures.
"It is in fact a much larger domain that takes a holistic view at how platforms are used or misused to influence our everyday lives.
"The dominance of AI driven, targeted advertising-based big data that has been collected, stored and processed, will likely lead to the increased use of social engineering attacks, targeting either individuals or specific demographics.
"The outcome of these attacks is uncertain, and the tools required to mitigate them are in their infancy."
