2013 Predictions: Better Exploit Mitigations Make Hackers Turn to Social Engineering

In its latest Security Threat Report, Sophos makes some interesting predictions for 2013. According to one of them, the latest exploit mitigation technologies will make it more difficult for cybercriminals to leverage software vulnerabilities in their attacks.

Over the past year, we’ve learned about numerous vulnerabilities that plagued (some of them still do) popular software applications. However, since operating system vendors began hardening and securing their products more and more, exploiting these flaws has become more challenging.

We have secure boot systems, address space layout randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Protection (DEP), not to mention restricted mobile platforms to protect us against cyber threats.

While this is a good thing, it doesn’t mean that exploits will simply disappear. Instead, we’ll likely see a decrease in vulnerability exploits, but we’ll witness a sharp rise in social engineering attacks.