Georgia Tech releases 2015 Emerging Cyber Threats Report

In its latest Emerging Cyber Threats Report, Georgia Tech warns about loss of privacy; abuse of trust between users and machines; attacks against the mobile ecosystem; rogue insiders; and the increasing involvement of cyberspace in nation-state conflicts.

Such topics are discussed at length in the annual report, which is published by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). The report will be released this week at the 12th Georgia Tech Cyber Security Summit (GT CSS), which has become the Atlanta IT community's foremost event on cyber security.

In the report, Georgia Tech covers five major areas. Observations that summarize findings in each area are as follows:

• Technology enables surveillance, while policy lags behind.
• Attackers continue to target the trust relationship between users and machines.
• Mobile devices fall under increasing attack, stressing the security of the ecosystem.
• Rogue insiders cause significant damage, but solutions are neither simple nor easy.
• Low-intensity online nation-state conflicts become the rule, not the exception.

"We must continue to invest in research and develop technology, processes and policies that help society deal with these developments," said GTISC Director Wenke Lee. "Researchers from academia, the private sector, and government must continue to work together and share information on emerging threats, make improvements to policy, and educate users."