Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) has issued an alert to all Cloud Computing businesses that they could be an easy target for ransomware spreading attacks, as they deal with and store huge amounts of corporate data.
The Tech Institute has issued a special Ransomware cyber attack warning to large scale businesses such as Amazon, Google, IBM and Azure as they offer cloud computing environments for both government and private entities.
The year 2018 will see a greater adoption of machine learning models, neutral networks and other AI technologies driving cyber attacks, says a report compiled by MIT. As machine learning can process vast amounts of data and perform operations at billion times per second, it can be used by hackers to detect and launch cyber attacks on network vulnerabilities in no time.
MIT also predicts that the year 2018 will witness Cyber-Physical attacks which are designed to either cause disruption on an immediate note or shut down vital systems to extort money from operators.
The Cambridge based Technology Institute says that cyber crooks will try to exploit more cyber vulnerabilities in older planes, trains, ships and other modes of transport in this year.
Another attack trend which will witness a rise in this year is ‘Cryptojacking’ where cyber crooks will use the computing power of website visitors to mine cryptocurrencies. MIT Institute says that the repercussions will be devastating if cryptocurrency mining groups start targeting computing resources at hospitals, airports, and other similar locations. The forecast is also being endorsed by security firm Malwarebytes which blocked over 11 million connections to cryptocurrency mining sites in a single day in 2017.
Now comes the big question- What if the Cryptojacking hackers take down a data center and start using the CPU power of some or many servers for cryptocurrency mining….?
Though its a bit tedious job for the hackers, it’s not an impossible task for them……isn’t it?