Kaspersky shares privacy predictions for 2023

Woburn, MA, Dec. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Kaspersky’s “Privacy predictions for 2023” report, in 2023, we will witness the formation of an even more diverse market for behavior tracking due to local law enforcement. Moreover, smartphones will take over traditional paperwork and the idea of a metaverse will become part of our reality. All these changes are certain to place more demands on the security of various devices and technologies.
This year has been marked by regulatory activity regarding privacy around the world, targeting both the corporate and private sectors. Some of the measures tackled commercial surveillance and data security practices that harm consumers, while others dealt with invasive machine-learning technologies to further protect sensitive data. However, there are still plenty of privacy issues facing society in the near future, particularly those related to current geopolitical and economic agendas.
This forecast was developed based on the shifts and trends witnessed by Kaspersky’s privacy experts in 2022. According to the researchers, the big stand-off between various stakeholders in the conversation around privacy and data collection will result in the following tendencies:
Internet balkanization will lead to a more diverse and localized behavior tracking market and checks on cross-border data transfer.
Most web pages are crawling with invisible trackers collecting behavioral data that is further aggregated and used primarily for targeted advertising. While there are many different companies in the business of behavioral ads, US-based big tech companies such Meta, Amazon, and Google are the unquestionable leaders. However, in many regions, authorities are becoming increasingly wary of sharing data with foreign companies. That drives businesses to show a preference for local players, which might have various privacy implications. While big tech companies may spend more on security than the smaller players, even they have their share of data breaches. A smaller entity might be less interesting for hackers, but it also faces less scrutiny from regulatory bodies.
Smartphones will replace more paper documents
Today smartphones or other devices are widely used as payment methods, making classic plastic debit and credit cards obsolete in some countries. Moreover, smartphones can be used for medical purposes (i.e. as proof of vaccination or current COVID-negative health status) or even as a digitized version of an ID card. The latter may bring both convenience and risks. On the one hand, a properly implemented system could help to deal with daily verification without having to show the cashier the whole document with other details like name or street address. On the other, using a smartphone to store an increasing amount of personal data creates a single point of failure, raising serious security concerns. This places serious demands on the security of mobile devices and the way data is stored while preserving privacy.

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