The Future of Mobile App Security: What It Will Look Like In 5 Years

The Mobile App Industry has seen a boom in the way millions of consumers are adopting mobile technology to stay connected. As new technology and innovation also advance, the need for security has never been more critical. However as technology evolves, neither traditional nor current methods of security surveillance just don’t cut it anymore. The future of mobile app security industry calls for forward-thinking in order to be able to combat the innovatively designed attacks on businesses and financial institutions.

Even in current times, we are witnessing technologies like IoT, Business Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence etc slowly emerging and influencing the way we do business. While all these technologies give rise to great opportunities for development it also has expanded the playgrounds in which hackers operate. We’ve already seen multiple IoT related attacks over the last few years. We’ve even seen cyber attacks that have targeted celebrities, the NHS and even the CIA.

It’s safe to say at this time that the future of cybersecurity, or in this case mobile app security is deeply connected with the innovations, introduction and adoption of new technologies that will power businesses over the internet. As the internet becomes essential in the lives of millions around the globe, It is critically important that businesses address security not just in the present but also anticipate and accommodate for security threats that future technologies bring. Predictions of things may sound fancy and grab attention but in the case of cybersecurity, it could be the difference when it comes to saving unimaginable amounts of money and assets or in many instances, your business.  

Businesses and their dependency on the Internet

Most of the systems we do business in today are interconnected and driven by the internet. Studies on the trend of these technologies suggest that In the near future, the interconnectedness will be even tighter. More and more devices will be connected to the internet. More and more businesses will use the internet to power business success. 

Decision Automation: 

Innovation in technology enables businesses to reduce headcount and automate many decisions. We are going to see an increase in the number of decisions that will be automated. The use of personal assistants to do our work has been slowly creeping in and being adopted by many consumers around the globe. We're going to be seeing evolved versions of the automated assistants and our lives will tend to get very reliant on it. IoT-connected devices, on the other hand, will be a part of almost every function of our daily lives. Connected cars will make our daily commute easier, and virtually all of our personal data will reside in cloud computing, where we don’t fully control the data flow and access to information.

The complexity and connectivity of these systems directly impact their level of vulnerability. Some people would argue that in order to protect our systems, we need to understand the hackers’ motives. The truth is, a hackers motive can never be determined. Everyone seems to hack for a different reason

Cyber attacks will continue, stay on guard

In the coming years, organizations will continue to develop cyber-attack technologies for defense and offense; financially driven criminal groups will continue to seek ways to monetize cyber-attacks; hacktivists will continue to use cyber to convey their messages; terrorist groups will also shift to cyberspace; and finally – people with no apparent motive, who seek to demonstrate their technical skills, will continue “contributing” to the attacker ecosystem.

Another challenge we will encounter in cyber defense is that, unlike the physical world where we kind of know who our potential adversaries are and what “weapons” they use, in cyberspace anyone could be our enemy. We are accessible from every point of the globe, and it was already demonstrated that any attacker can have access to “strategic weapons” that don’t require the infrastructure or the cost of conventional weapons. Last but not least, many cyber-attacks are run automatically by “bots” that scan the entire network and find the weakest spot so we won’t need to look like an “attractive target”. We simply need to have a vulnerable point. Yes, we are all targets.

Security Protocols 

Cybersecurity defense systems will need to become more sophisticated in order to cope with huge amounts of data. First, we will need to interconnect our defense systems to be able to act in real time. For example, our network gateway will need to share information with our personal devices. Second, the human analyst will not be able to cope with all this information and we will rely on more artificial intelligence to help us in making decisions. We will also need to cultivate the next generation of cyber experts who know how to develop and drive those systems. New professions and domain expertise will be formed. Last but not least, we will need to shield all our systems. Countries and states will have a bigger role in protecting large-scale environments like their own infrastructure (power grids, water supply, traffic control and frankly – everything around us), and maybe even to provide some of their intelligence to the public. Large corporations will need to guard their data on their own servers, on their cloud servers, on our personal computers, and even on our mobile devices. We can have the most secure data center, but if our data leaks through a cloud provider or a mobile device, we are just as vulnerable.

Conclusion

So overall, studies suggest that we will see systems that are smarter, sophisticated, able to handle large populations and large amounts of data, systems that can update themselves rapidly, that can take decisions in real time and that connect to shared-intelligence centers that will keep us guarded. But this is not going to be something that can just be implemented at will. Businesses will need to start investing in time and resources in research and development to ensure that security is at the forefront of innovation. 

Most of these systems will be operated through mobile applications, therefore, giving way to even wider hunting grounds for hackers. 

Finally, as far as the general public is concerned, keeping ourselves cyber secure will become as common as maintaining physical safety. If today we all know to lock our doors at night, put on our seatbelts when driving, and use a helmet when hopping on our motorbikes, in five years from now the same level of awareness will be given to ensure we are also digitally secure.

Source: Forbes

Published on Nov 8, 2018
Darell Khin
Written by Darell Khin

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