14 Cyber Security Predictions for 2022 and Beyond

Written by: Adam Greenberg

Last week Sandra Joyce, EVP, Global Intel & Advanced Practices, and Charles Carmakal, SVP and CTO, each shared a little bit about what they expect to see in 2022. Top of mind for both them was ransomware and multifaceted extortion—and they’re not alone. As we interviewed several more Mandiant leaders and experts to gather their thoughts about the coming year, this one topic kept popping up above all others.

Because the overwhelming majority of people are focused primarily on this growing and evolving financial threat, we decided to put ransomware and multifaceted extortion in the spotlight in our report, 14 Cyber Security Predictions for 2022 and Beyond.

We all know the basic reasons why ransomware and multifaceted extortion works: the rewards outweigh the risks, the ransomware-as-a-service model makes it easy, and the added element of extortion makes it more likely an organization will pay. But did you know that:

• Conflict between threat actors is likely to increase, and that conflict may lead to bad outcomes for victims?
• The U.S. government fight against ransomware may also lead to bad outcomes for victims?
• We will see more low sophistication ransomware attacks against cyber physical systems, and more public breaches due to extortion?

It is clear that the impact of ransomware and multifaceted extortion on cyber security is dramatic, and we hit on many reasons why in our security predictions report for 2022, but this threat is just one thing to keep in mind for next year. Our leaders and experts are thinking about other things too, including:

• The Big Four; the activity we expect to see from Russia, Iran, China and North Korea
• Recent events in Afghanistan triggering espionage and information operations
• Deepfake technology being used for more than just information operations
• How cyber outsourcing will increases velocity and impact of attacks
• Cloud and third parties introducing chokepoints
• More Internet of Things vulnerabilties increasing the attack surface

Every year we release our predictions to arm organizations with the information they need to prepare for and respond to the latest threats.

Download the report, 14 Cyber Security Predictions for 2022 and Beyond, today and register for our upcoming webinar on Nov. 8 hosted by Andrew Kopcienski, Senior Analyst with Mandiant Intelligence.