Ping Identity CTO’s cybersecurity predictions for 2019

Ping Identity has released its annual cybersecurity predictions for 2019.

Among the top five trends in the coming year are a decrease in successful attacks against multi-factor authentication (MFA), a proliferation of zero trust security approaches and a growing emphasis on API security.  "As we usher in 2019, the role of intelligent identity will only grow more critical," says Ping Identity CTO Bernard Harguindeguy.

"Our borderless world provides unprecedented freedom and convenience but also breeds a whole new set of cybersecurity risks and concerns.

"With this in mind, it's critical that organisations effectively safeguard their data and applications in the new Zero Trust world that is fast becoming the norm."

Here are Ping Identity's top five cybersecurity predictions for 2019:

While MFA attacks increased in 2018 as predicted, the adoption of the W3C's WebAuthn by major browsers promises a solution when combined with FIDO CTAP authenticators.

These prevent phishing attacks by only allowing authentication requests from sites where they have been previously registered, providing greatly enhanced security.

Identity authorities will increasingly use phone-carried credentials (e.g. mobile drivers licenses, national ID cards and passports) to verify identities.

While privacy advocates argue that giving law enforcement access to your mobile phone could result in unwanted disclosure of private information, 14 US states are testing or have already implemented cryptographic identity verification, and China plans to issue a digital version of its national ID card.

As identity becomes the new perimeter, zero trust architectures will replace firewalls and VPNs.

Employee-only applications are already accessible via the open internet.

Security processes that previously required users to be on the corporate network - for example, two-factor authentication registration and password recovery—will follow suit, requiring fresh approaches to authentication and validation of employees and external authorised users.

The API infrastructures responsible for providing easy access to data and applications are attractive targets for hackers and bad actors.

Because traditional enterprise security is woefully inadequate at protecting APIs, attacks can go undetected for months or years.

Where they don't already exist, API-specific regulations and governance - and corresponding financial penalties - can be expected.

Building on the blueprint of the UK's Open Banking Standard, other countries will deploy similar open banking standards to spur innovation in their own nations.

In fact, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Canada are already working on them.

Meanwhile, banks will race to update their existing IT infrastructures to prepare for these new security and API standards mandates, leading to a scarcity of specialists to tackle these projects.