Some nations might add wiper malware as observed prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when Russian APT groups gained access to Ukrainian targets and launched a destructive attack that coincided with kinetic operations. “With tensions in the Taiwan Strait and other global security threats, 2024 will see pre-placed access of destructive wiper malware at strategically important targets,” stated the report.
Google Cloud also forecasted the targeting of space-based infrastructure, matured attacks on hybrid and multi-cloud environments, threat actors using more serverless services, continued extortion operations, espionage and sleeper botnets, revival of older techniques including SystemFunctionXXX, and anti-virtual machine.
Malware authors will continue to develop more software in programming languages such as Go, Rust, and Swift. This is because the languages provide a great development experience, low-level capabilities, large standard library, and easy integration with third-party packages. Developers will be targeted via supply chain attacks hosted on software package managers.
The increase in cybersecurity insures is expected to result in premiums remaining steady. Google Cloud also expect to see more consolidation in SecOps as customers increasingly demand integrated risk and threat intelligence in their security operations solutions.
Regional trends to watch for in 2024
An increase in nation-states and other threat actors engaging in cyber activities targeting the upcoming US presidential election, including espionage and influence operations targeting electoral systems, impersonation of candidates on social media, and information operations designed to target the voters. An uptick in spear phishing and otherattacks are expected against the US government, particularly from China, Russia, and Iran.
Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Indonesia will also be holding elections and similar activities are expected to occur as well. China’s newly drawn map could also become a cause of contention during India’s and Indonesia’s elections.
