Kaspersky researchers have shared their vision on Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) in 2021, laying out how the landscape of targeted attacks will change in the coming months. The turmoil experienced in 2020 will bring along many structural and strategic changes, not just in our daily lives but in the realm of targeted attacks, too, not in the least due to the now broadened attack surface. New attack vectors, such as the targeting of network appliances and the search for 5G vulnerabilities, will happen alongside multi-stage attacks and positive actions against activities enabling cyberattacks, such as zero-day sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forecast was developed based on Kaspersky\u2019s Global Research, and Analysis Team (GReAT) changes during 2020 and has been published to support the cybersecurity community with some guidelines and insights. The latter, along with a series of industry and technology threat predictions, have been created to help prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
APT threat actors will buy initial network access from cybercriminals<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the key, and potentially most dangerous, trends that Kaspersky researchers anticipate is the change in threat actors\u2019 approach to the execution of attacks. Last year targeted ransomware attacks reached a new level through the use of generic malware to get an initial foothold in targeted networks. Connections between these and well-established underground networks such as Genesis, which typically trade in stolen credentials, were observed. Kaspersky researchers believe that APT actors will start using the same method to compromise their targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, organizations should pay increased attention to generic malware and perform basic incident response activities on each compromised computer to ensure that generic malware has not been used as a means of deploying more sophisticated threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other targeted threat predictions for 2021 include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n