Cyber experts warn of changing threat profile in 2016

Cyber security experts at Kaspersky Lab, have warned that advanced persistent threats (APT) as we know them today will cease to exist in 2016 and will be replaced by deeper, embedded attacks that are harder to detect and trace back to the perpetrators. 

In their Predictions for 2016, the experts reveal that while the 'Threat' will remain, the concept of 'Advanced' and 'Persistent' will disappear to reduce the traces left behind on an infected system. They will also rely more on off-the-shelf malware to minimise their initial investment.

Cybercrime businesses and individuals would therefore, need to be well informed to protect their systems against sophisticated cyber attacks.

According to commentators, companies needed to focus on cyber security education for staff, implement mature, multi-layered endpoint protection with extra proactive layers.

"Caution is needed when sending information via the internet. For instance, you shouldn't connect to communication channels that are known to be unsecure, such as a public Wi-Fi network, because information may be intercepted. It is also important that consumers are careful when choosing online tools for personal communication, and only use a device reliably protected by a password and an internet security solution," according to Elena Kharchenko, head of Consumer Product Management, Kaspersky Lab.

According to commentators, it was a serious observation, as, experts had warned of a dramatic change in how APTs were structured and operated. Kaspersky Lab expected a decreased emphasis on 'persistence', with a greater focus on memory-resident or fileless malware, leaving no traces on an infected system and thereby avoiding detection.

So it was clear that rather than investing in bootkits, rootkits and custom malware that got burned by research teams, companies like Kaspersky Lab expected to see an increase in the repurposing of off-the-shelf malware.

According to Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, senior security expert, Global Research and Analysis Team, Kaspersky Lab: ''The year 2016 will see significant evolution in cyber espionage tradecraft, as sophisticated threat actors minimise investment by repurposing commercially available malware and become more adept at hiding their advanced tools, infrastructure, and identities by ditching persistence altogether.''