Cyber Defense eMagazine January Edition for 2022

Paul Farrington, chief product officer at Glasswall
“We’re constantly seeing cybercriminals changing their methods, and this will continue in 2022. Not only
do we anticipate the use of automation to create scale - for example in DDoS attacks and the
communication of malware - but we’re seeing machine learning (ML) being used to make attacks more
effective. It’s one thing for a human attacker to analyse email characteristics to work out what entices a
reader to click on a malicious link - applying ML to this adds a completely new dimension. In doing so,
attackers have an almost infinite ability to tweak variables and ultimately secure a better payoff for their
efforts.
This kind of analysis – where ML is used to make small changes to malware properties, for example in a
PDF or a Word document – needs to be stopped in its tracks. Organisations need to seriously consider
whether this type of malware will evade detection from their anti-virus tools. If the answer’s yes, the
problem needs to be looked at in a new way.
Polymorphic malware has been around for a decade – metamorphic malware, on the other hand, is a
more recent phenomenon. It’s taking time for organisations to build up strategies to combat it. I predict
that this form of malware will take off over the next few years, as cybercriminals increasingly leverage
ML to make malware more personalised, and thereby easier to evade detection.
At the extreme end, this will see every piece of malware become novel or unique. This makes it far more
likely it will be able to slip through an unknown gap in the defenses. Delivered at scale, this has the
potential to become a significant problem for organisations that are not taking a proactive approach to
file sanitisation.”
Paul Farrington, chief product officer at Glasswall
“Cyber is now the weapon of choice for nation-state attacks and we can expect to see even more
evidence of this in 2022. This means new cyber-focused legislation is, and will continue to be, a priority
amongst governments, as reflected in Biden’s Executive Order.
The positive side to this is that cybersecurity will continue to be spoken about more widely and openly
among private sector organisations. At a high-level, businesses will need to take notice of the changing
legislative landscape and adopt a compliance-first mindset, irrespective of whether cybersecurity is
Cyber Defense eMagazine – January 2022 Edition 105
Copyright © 2022, Cyber Defense Magazine. All rights reserved worldwide.