Security
researchers laid out potential scenarios for the future of
cyberespionage on Wednesday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. In a
session titled "The Dark Web and Cyberespionage," attendees were
presented with a bleak outlook in which relatively simple attacks will
increasingly be used by nation-state entities seeking to gain control of
infrastructure and resources.
Based on emerging trends noticed by cybersecurity firms in
recent months, Kaspersky Labs principal security researcher Vincente
Diaz predicted that "middle class malware" attacks would increasingly be
used to achieve ambitious results similar to advanced Stuxnet-type
nation-state attacks. Diaz expects to see "unlimited zero days" in this
new dystopian reality. He projected that it will be difficult to tell
highly advanced attacks from effective but primitive attacks.
Cyber treaties like the agreement signed by the U.S. and China
will take on a more urgent role as nations scramble to gain the
resources they need through cyberespionage, and cybertheft of
intellectual property.
"On a diplomatic level, there will be alliances to get
control of resources," he said. Diaz said attacks by China will migrate
to campaigns against other countries, because China will continue to
need to gain data for essential national infrastructure projects from
somewhere.
During the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit 2016 in
Tenerife, Spain last month, the firm published a report that noted that
Chinese attacks against Russian targets increased by 300 percent
following the cyber treaty between the U.S. and China.
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