PKWARE Identifies Three New Emerging Threats

MILWAUKEE, Wis., July 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- PKWARE, the leading provider of Smart Encryption software and solutions, announced it anticipates three significant, new information security breaches through 2015:

• An Electoral Campaign Will Be Breached: We are already entrenched in the 2016 political season. With the Presidential race right around the corner, exposing embarrassing emails or sensitive information from within a campaign would have devastating consequences. Supporter or contributor data may also be at risk.
• Intellectual Property Will Be Held Hostage: There has been a continued onslaught of attacks from China and other nation states aimed at heisting intellectual property. With new designs and technologies typically announced in the Fall, a major American innovation sits as a prime target for a breach.
• Smart Watch/Wearable Data Will Be Hacked: The market for smart watches and other "wearables" is growing exponentially. But these apps and devices aren't built with security as a focus. Streams of information tied to these smart devices provide a means to profile or threaten users, and a large-scale data leak is also likely to take down some app providers.

"Based on our own intelligence gathering and experience working to protect data security around the world, we believe hacks, breaches and attacks will continue to unfold at unprecedented levels in the coming months, harming businesses and consumers alike," says V. Miller Newton, PKWARE CEO and President. "Elections, intellectual property and wearables offer porous staging grounds for cyberattacks and we believe these three areas are particularly ripe for exploitation through 2015."

Today's predictions from PKWARE follow accurate predictions from the company's initial 2015 breach forecast, which was given in January of this year and was lionized in two outlets, Business Insider and episode three of its online security show, "Thieves, Snoops and Idiots." In those forums, and in national press interviews, PKWARE correctly anticipated the following attacks:   

• A Professional Sports Franchise Will Be Compromised – Breach realized: June 16, St. Louis Cardinals hack the rival Houston Astros.
• Our Transportation Infrastructure Will Be Attacked – Breach realized: June 22, LOT Polish Airways ground systems were accessed externally.
• American Healthcare Systems are At Risk – Breach realized: Feb. 5, Anthem reports millions of exposed records.
• Corporate Espionage Will Be a Hacking Tool – Breach realized: July 6, Italy's Hacking Team, which makes surveillance software used by governments to police the web, was exposed.

"Though the U.S and British governments are seeking to weaken encryption generally, businesses and consumers must join together to protect and enhance the use of encryption everywhere," says Matt Little, PKWARE's VP of Product Development and a frequent media resource on data security. "To stop cybercriminals and nullify the value from breaches, we must secure the data itself so that business and communications can continue safely."

About PKWARE

PKWARE's Smart Encryption armors data at its core, eliminating vulnerabilities everywhere it is used, shared or stored. Smart Encryption is easily embedded and managed without changing the way people work. For nearly three decades, PKWARE has provided security and compression software to more than 30,000 enterprise customers, including 200 government entities. PKWARE invented .ZIP, the world's most widely used, file-based open standard.

Media Contacts:

Josh Swarz
646-428-0650
[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140916/146440

SOURCE PKWARE