MSPs, Hybrid Workers and Connected Cars Face Cyber-Threat Onslaught in 2023

Trend Micro’s forward-looking report predicts how the threat landscape will evolve

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 15 December 2022 - Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, today released Future/Tense: Trend Micro Security Predictions for 2023.

The report warns that threat actors will ramp up attacks targeting security blind spots in the home office, software supply chain and cloud in the coming year.

To read a full copy of the report, please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk/security/research-and-analysis/predictions/2023

"The pandemic might be receding, but remote working is here to stay," said Jon Clay, vice president of threat intelligence at Trend Micro. "That means a renewed threat actor focus on unpatched VPNs, connected SOHO devices and back-end cloud infrastructure in 2023. In response, organizations will need to focus on helping overworked security teams by consolidating attack surface management and detection and response to a single, more cost-effective platform."

According to the report, VPNs represent a particularly attractive target as a single solution could be exploited to target multiple corporate networks. Home routers will also be singled out as they're often left unpatched and unmanaged by central IT.

Alongside the threat to hybrid workers, the report anticipates several trends for IT security leaders to watch out for in 2023, including:

• A growing supply chain threat from managed service providers (MSPs), which will be selected because they offer access to a large volume of downstream customers, thereby maximizing the ROI of ransomware, data theft and other attacks
• "Living off the cloud" techniques may become the norm for groups attacking cloud infrastructure to stay hidden from conventional security tools. An example could be using a victim's backup solutions to download stolen data into the attacker's storage destination
• Connected car threats such as targeting of the cloud APIs which sit between in-vehicle embedded-SIMs (eSIMs) and back-end application servers. In a worst-case scenario (i.e., Tesla API) attacks could be used to gain access to vehicles. The connected car industry could also be impacted by malware lurking in open-source repositories
• Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups may rethink their business as the impact of double extortion fades. Some may focus on the cloud, while others could eschew ransomware altogether and try monetizing other forms of extortion like data theft
• Social engineering will be turbo-charged with business email compromise (BEC)-as-a-service offerings and the rise of deepfake-based BEC