With IoT growing, managing cybercrime gets more complex: Kevin Du,IEEE Senior Member and Computer Security Professor, Syracuse University

With IoT growing, will it be more difficult to manage cybercrime?

Yes, definitely. Many IoT devices do not have sufficient security protection, either because they are using far less powerful hardware, or they have not implemented appropriate security measures. IoT devices change hands multiple times, from designers to manufactures to vendors to consumers and hit many stops in-between; each stop demands a cybersecurity professional advocating for safety standards. The recent attack on the Dyn network (October 2016) were from a host of compromised IoT devices.  With more and more IoT devices pushed out and immediately purchased by customers, they will become a main target for cybercrime.

With everything now stored on the cloud, How vulnerable is our cloud data?​

We have to look at this from two different angles. First, by putting all our data on the cloud, all our data is now accessible over the Internet. This makes accessing data more convenient to users, but it also make it more convenient for attackers. Without the cloud, we store data to our own storage or server, and they do not necessarily need to be accessible over the Internet. Therefore, from this angle, putting data on the cloud does make our data more vulnerable to attacks. On the other hand, good cloud service providers do put a lot of effort securing the data for customers, so they can protect our data better than we can. 

Ransomware is a major aspect of the cybercrime ecosystem. How can one avoid from falling into ransomware tricks?​

Backup your data somewhere else, such as on the cloud or on portable drives. This way, even if your data gets locked up by attackers, you can get your data back from your backup.  Keep your operating system and software up-to-date, and always install the most recent software updates. Be careful when browsing the web, and try not to visit suspicious or untrusted sites.

Tell us about some cybersecurity threats that we can expect in 2017

I don't anticipate any major shifts in 2017 in terms of cybersecurity threats. However, with more and more IoT devices being introduced, I expect that there will be significantly more attacks on IoT devices in 2017.