Cybersecurity 2021: what’s waiting for us this year?
We all hope for this year to be better than the bitter 2020 was. However, it’s quite a low bar considering the events we went through during those 365 days. Now, everyone is looking forward with hope for good. Unfortunately, we can’t be so positive about cybersecurity trends for 2021. There are some things to be glad about, but also, there are serious dangers and upsetting details.
One thing doesn’t change for 2021 and won’t change ever, we think. It’s that you should take care of your cybersecurity yourself. And iNinja VPN app will be your reliable guard in this mission protecting your devices from prying eyes. Also, remember about malware that doesn’t go anywhere — use well-known antivirus programs.
Privacy is the main trend
Since 2020 made us move our lives almost entirely online, a lot of people became more concerned about their privacy in the virtual world. Users started being more attentive to the terms on which they use apps and services and began trying to protect their devices from malicious activity. It must be a silver lining of the pandemic that it created a drive towards more secure devices for both individual users and organizations.
Surveillance becomes even more global
And that’s the main reason for people trying to protect their privacy. Today, it’s virtually impossible to find an app that wouldn’t gather too much information about you, let alone sharing it with some third parties. The worst thing is that in most cases we’re eager to share personal data with apps — we use biometric authentication, face identification, and other technologies that simplify the process of logging into services.
Also, we began using more apps that have access to more sensitive data. Mental health services know quite a lot about our issues and the way we feel. As we edit our selfies in a tailored app, it gathers data about our appearance. The best example for the latter is that Face App is quite likely stealing the faces of its users. Who could use those selfies? Malefactors to impersonate us later.
The issues with Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger are already known rather well, and we even wrote about these apps. So it will be safe to assume that every application we install potentially harms our privacy. You can lower this risk a little bit by using iNinja VPN for Android and iOS, as well as your desktop devices to mask your online activity. Additionally, it will be useful to get rid of apps you don’t really need, plan the way you use programs that are left, and review the permissions they have.
Malware becomes sneakier
All the antivirus programs and security protocols made it harder for hackers to just stuff user devices with malware. So in 2021, we can expect them to turn towards fooling users. Quite likely, malefactors will share malware through metadata of videos and pictures. Therefore, avoid accepting media from people you don’t know, and set up your messengers to not save received files to your device right away.
The government will become even nosier
The pandemic became a very handy excuse for governments to ignore the human right to personal privacy. Some countries implemented movement tracking technology to make sure potentially infected people don’t spread the virus. And riots in the US, France, and Belarus just made governments more eager to monitor user activity and stick their noses into private conversations. So, unfortunately, our rulers who were so righteous in the past few years trying to protect our privacy with different laws, turned against our security now. Sure, “it’s for our own good,” as they claim. But we know what’s up.
Doxxing is at its peak
People are stressed and frightened which leads to them becoming angry. Some get quite vengeful turning to online harassment and even doxxing. Numerous internet celebrities and ordinary people got attacked because of what they did or said online years ago, and private information gets leaked all the time. And we expect this sad trend to evolve in 2021 since a lot of people will keep working remotely. Once again, here iNinja VPN app will be quite useful for keeping your privacy intact.
Quantum encryption to save us
A rather new technology — quantum computing — excels at creating and breaking codes. Quantum encryption can offer protection that no other encryption can compete with. It’s not a silver bullet, but it can improve our security, and we expect it to be another big trend in 2021.
As you can see, the pandemic made its impact on the virtual world, and the results are not very comforting. In 2021, we will have to pay even more attention to our security by using a VPN app, being mindful about the apps we install, reading all those terms of use, and getting more careful about the websites we visit, info we share, and files we accept.
Remember that iNinja VPN will protect your device from prying eyes by hiding your IP address. But it won’t do much if you overshare online or constantly get your gadget infected with malware. Follow the rules of cyber hygiene, and you’ll avoid a lot of dangers that are lurking online.