Tomorrow's Tech Providing Bigger Cybersecurity Threats

Innovations including quantum computing, AI, and smart cities could bring a range of benefits to everyone. However, as with every technological innovation no matter how nascent there will be malicious actors lurking in the vicinity to exploit them.

While the internet has undoubtedly brought new benefits, it's also brought new problems as cybercriminals look to exploit our ever-growing reliance on electronic gadgetry connectivity.

Phishing emails, malware, and ransomware attacks, or getting your bank details, passwords, and other personal information stolen – the internet has provided malicious hackers with a variety of new ways to make money and cause disruption. Just look, for example, at how critical infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and even the lone-wolf corner shop sole trader have been affected by cyberattacks.

We're yet to fully secure networks against today's internet threats, yet technology is moving on already, bringing new threats that we must somehow prepare for.

QUANTUM COMPUTING

Quantum computing not so long ago was a discussion reserved for mathematicians and research scientists to quibble over with mathematical models only a very few can comprehend. Not so anymore. The models now have strong foundational bases where applied research is now being carried out in various institutions. The recent Nobel prize for physics was awarded to three distinguished scientists for their research into quantum mechanics a case in point. Quantum computing, which promises to be able to quickly solve complex problems that have defeated classical computers is now heading our way.

While this advance will bring benefits to scientific research and society, it will also create new challenges. Most notably, the power of quantum computing could make quick work of cracking the encryption algorithms we've used for decades to secure a range of areas, including online banking, secure communications, and digital signatures.

Currently, quantum computing is expensive, and the expertise required to develop it is restricted to large technology companies, research institutions, and governments. But like any innovative technology, it will eventually become more commercially available and easier to access – and cybercriminals will be looking to take advantage of quantum. A very good example is the encryption key length we have used as the default for almost 30 years is no longer adequate.

But while disruptive cyberattacks powered by quantum computing are a key cybersecurity threat of the future, quantum computers could themselves be a lucrative target of hackers.

A very good example will be crypto mining malware. This is a form of malware that attackers install on computers and servers to secretly use the power of someone else's network to mine for cryptocurrency and keep the dosh – all without needing to pay for the resources or the power being consumed.

Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are generated by computers by solving complex mathematical problems – the sort of mathematical problems that could be relatively trivial for a network of quantum computers to solve. That means that if cyber criminals were able to plant crypto-mining malware on quantum computers, they could get very rich very quickly – at almost no cost to themselves. You do not have to be a quantum scientist to realize that having a crypto miner on a quantum computer is going to tremendously speed up your mining capabilities hence, a target of cybercriminals.

EXPLOITING AL AND ML

But quantum computing isn't the only emerging technology that cybercriminals will look to take advantage of. We can expect them to exploit developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

Like quantum computing, AI and ML look set to power innovations in a range of areas, including robotics and driverless cars, speech and language recognition, healthcare, and more.

AI that can adapt and learn can be used for good, but ultimately, once it becomes more widely available, it's only a matter of time before cybercriminals are using it to help make cyberattacks more effective.

One means of exploiting this technology would be programming a text-based generation algorithm to send out, and reply to, common spam emails or business email compromise (BEC) campaigns.

Rather than needing a human to take time out to write and reply to messages, criminals could rely on an algorithm that can also analyze which responses are most likely to be real victims that are worth replying to, rather than people who remain unconvinced, or those who send prank replies back to the spammer. That reality means in the future you could end up being scammed – by a bot.

DEEPFAKES

But AI being abused to power cyber threats isn't just a future problem for the internet – it is already happening now, with deep learning being used to power deepfakes, which are videos that look like they're real people or events but are actually fake.

They've been used in political misinformation campaigns, and pranks to fool politicians – and they're already being used to enhance BEC and other fraud attacks, with cybercriminals using deep fake audio to convince employees to authorize significant financial transfers to accounts owned by the attackers.

We're entering this brave new world around deepfake videos that will be used to commit crimes. Not just manipulation, but also disinformation and misinformation. Take the example of CEOs who are in the public-facing realm. They appear on television, they give speeches, and there are videos of them online, so it's relatively simple to find recordings of what they sound like – and it's already possible for scammers to run those resources through deepfake technology to mimic their voice. If an employee gets a call from the head of the company telling them to do something, they're likely to do it – and the cybercriminals behind these attacks know this fact. And as the technology behind deepfakes continues to improve, it means that it will only get harder to tell what's real from what's fake.