What do hackers have in store for this new year? The boss of the famous antivirus manufacturer Avast continuously tries to anticipate the threat with the help of 150 computer researchers based in Brno in the Czech Republic, the United States or Serbia.
Interview in the form of a warning with Ondrej Vlcek.
What is the current state of the cyber security threat?
ONDREJ VLCEK . The level of sophistication has increased dramatically since I started in the industry in the 90s in terms of volume and speed of propagation.
Artificial intelligence (AI) attacks started to appear on our radars for the first time in 2019. 2020 is going to be the year of massive adoption by hackers because all the technologies are available. These cyber attacks are not simple viruses but rather social engineering or psychological manipulation such as phishing in order to redirect to a fraudulent site or to download malicious software.
What does an AI-prepared cyber attack look like?
Before it was the same email sent to everyone with sloppy spelling and grammar or an email sent directly to you with personal information that makes it more credible. Today's attempts use AI and machine learning that will automatically scan public sites and social networks for millions of people.
They get very personalized emails in a fairly sustained level of language. You are more likely to open an attachment or link when it seems to come from your doctor or tennis club.
There is also speculation about the mutation of computer viruses thanks to a modification by algorithms of the codes used but there is still no evidence or a hacker arrested in the act but it is cheap and it is very effective.
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What is the most "profitable" way for a hacker to make money these days?
Extortion with ransomware like Wannacry is still the most profitable and the best economic model for a network of hackers. There is no longer even need to have computer skills because all the tools and providers are on sale. Just look at Bitcoin prices and waves of computer attacks to see that they are correlated. It is not a coincidence.
The other popular payment method is really evil and efficient: your computer is free if you infect a dozen other people by sending them malicious software.
What should we fear for this year?
Beyond attacks fomented with AI, it is the connected objects that will be the most targeted. There are tens of millions of devices that worry me. The easiest to hack are security cameras because they are poorly protected with weak passwords. They can also transform into "botnet", a zombie machine, which are used to carry out other attacks.