A new year offers hope for increased business productivity, profits, and efficiency – but 2022 also ushers in a fresh wave of IT security issues for business owners and technology directors. Here at Gravity Systems, our Austin IT business support experts want to get the word out about some of these potential problems while you still have time to tackle them head-on. Watch out for the following trends.

Ransomware attacks will scale up. Ransomware attacks on businesses ballooned between 2019 and 2021, and the majority of technology pundits predict that this trend will remain on the rise through 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately added fuel to the fire as more and more employees link their home computers to company networks. Many ransomware attacks disguise themselves as valuable news or products related to the pandemic. Once the workers click on that fateful data, the ransomware can infest servers and bring down entire businesses.

Deepfake techniques will fool more workers. Phishing and spoofing attacks no longer limit themselves to simulated email addresses or convincing-looking web pages. Deepfake technology now enables the bad guys to send astonishingly realistic video and audio files of authority figures requesting financial or personal data. The more this technology continues to develop, the more effectively it will lead employees (and even employers) astray.

More remote work will mean more mobile malware attacks. As more of the workplace goes mobile, so do cybercriminals. 2022 will mostly see a surge in the creation and distribution of mobile malware apps. Employees who use their own devices to connect to the workplace may prove especially vulnerable.

Now is the time to evaluate your organization’s cybersecurity measures and make any necessary updates to protect it against the next wave of potential attackers. Contact Gravity Systems today to get your IT security checked and make any recommended improvements.