FortiGuard Labs Researchers Predict That IoT Attacks and New Evasion Techniques Will Characterize Emerging Threats in 2016

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - November 24, 2015) - As 2016 approaches, Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT) -- global leader in high performance cybersecurity solutions -- and its threat research division, FortiGuard Labs, have made their annual predictions of the most significant trends in malware and network security going into 2016. As in years past, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud play heavily in the predictions but new malicious tactics and strategies will create unique challenges for vendors and organizations alike. FortiGuard also predicts the emergence of increasingly sophisticated evasion techniques that will push the boundaries of detection and forensic investigation as hackers face increasing pressure from law enforcement.

New Rules: The Evolving Threat Landscape in 2016 report is designed to reveal the new trends and strategies that FortiGuard researchers anticipate cyber criminals will employ in the year to come. Fortinet researched these predictions to arm our customers with the knowledge they need to maintain their advantage in the cybersecurity arms race and proactively change the way all businesses look at their security strategies going into the new year.

The top cybersecurity trends for 2016 include:

Increased M2M Attacks and Propagation Between Devices

Several troublesome proofs of concept made headlines in 2015 demonstrating the vulnerability of IoT devices. In 2016, though, we expect to see further development of exploits and malware that target trusted communication protocols between these devices. FortiGuard researchers anticipate that IoT will become central to "land and expand" attacks in which hackers will take advantage of vulnerabilities in connected consumer devices to get a foothold within the corporate networks and hardware to which they connect.

Worms and Viruses Designed to Specifically Attack IoT Devices

While worms and viruses have been costly and damaging in the past, the potential for harm when they can propagate among millions or billions of devices from wearables to medical hardware is orders of magnitude greater. FortiGuard researchers and others have already demonstrated that it is possible to infect headless devices with small amounts of code that can propagate and persist. Worms and viruses that can propagate from device to device are definitely on the radar.