In 2017 there has been a palpable sense of being on the cusp of great tech change, technologies like AI, blockchain, biometrics, quantum computing and cryptocurrencies promise transformational disruption in 2018.
Events like GDPR, PSD2 and major cybersecurity incidents have also added to a sense of tech change and importance. Enterprises across the globe are striving to achieve digital transformation, achieving major feats such as transitioning into the cloud; this widespread mindset is also contributing to a deep sense of flux.
In light of all of these things, it seems likely that at least something outrageous will happen in the world of tech in 2018, so we have compiled a selection of the most exciting, terrifying but most certainly outrageous predictions for the year ahead.
AI will know you better than your own family
Prakash Arunachalam, CIO at Servion Global Solutions, said: “In 2018, AI will slowly start to further mould the way we interact with daily technologies. Gartner even boldly predicts that in the coming years, personal devices will know more about our emotional state than our own families! As more and more user data is collected and analyzed to create better contexts, it will be a turning point for users to spend more and more time with devices such as smartphones, wearables, and PC.
“Emotional AI detects emotions (happiness, surprise, anxiousness, sadness, anger, fear and a neutral state) through voice intonations or facial expressions. This will be added to the educational software, video games, and diagnostic software to provide a much more personalized experience.”
Chetan Dube, President and CEO at IPSoft, said: “Efficiency of service is table stakes, personalisation and connection with customer will grow to be the AI differentiator. Technology is knocking on the door of linking intelligence of physical factors such as expression and tone of voice with the contextual elements of the conversation.”
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Cyberattacks will kill & self-driving cars will be confused
Reuven Harrison, CTO at Tufin, said: “WannaCry is good example of this scenario as the attack took down airports, and we’ll see more of that in 2018. Other likely scenarios: people will mark up traffic signs to confuse self-driving cars, causing severe traffic and chaos on the streets – or worse, traffic accidents. SCADA attacks could turn off power and water, leaving countless people without these essential systems that are necessary for their everyday life and safety.”
DDoS to become the new identity theft
John Pescatore, Director of Emerging Security Trends at the SANS Institute, said: “Denial of service will become as financially lucrative as identity theft.
“Cybercrime has represented the majority of damaging cybersecurity incidents for the past several years. Using stolen identities for new account fraud has been the major revenue driver behind breaches. However, in recent years ransomware attacks have caused as much, if not more damage, as increased reliance on distributed applications and cloud services results in massive business damage when information, applications or systems are held hostage by attackers.”
Tech will let us live to 150
Mark Barrenechea, CEO of OpenText, said: “Using techniques like gene therapy, which modifies immune cells to fight disease (such as HIV, Alzheimer’s, and cancer), scientists are looking to manipulate our genetic makeup to slow down or even stop the aging process. As medical technologies advance, doctors will be able to cure (rather than just treat) a growing number of genetic diseases to make living to 150 a reality.”
“Scientists around the world are working together to build a cell atlas, which involves cataloguing 37.2 trillion cells in the human body. Each cell will be assigned a molecular signature. Technologies are coming together to make this mapping possible,” Barrenechea said.
We will be enslaved by cryptomining hackers
Travis Farral, Director of Security Strategy at Anomali, said: “Cryptocurrency mining will become one of the major monetisation avenues for attackers as more and more attacks and malware include mining functionality to generate revenue. In particular a focus will be on in-browser mining that will be the result of website attacks. A simple few lines of Javascript can cause visiting browsers to ‘mine’ cryptocurrency while on the affected sites. This is occurring now, but isn’t as widespread as it likely will be next year.”
Hackers will cripple a mobile network
Ronald Sens, Director EMEA Marketing, A10 Networks, said: “A catastrophic attack will cripple, partially or completely, a major mobile network operator by targeting its core. Mobile network operators today focus on protecting their networks from attacks originating from outside. They defend their networks using Gi firewalls and DDoS protection appliances. This is changing, however, and now we see that attacks can also originate from inside the network.”
Blockchain will turn enemies into friends
Ian Currie, EMEA Director at Dell Boomi, said: “As a technology, blockchain will start to drive new partnering behaviours between previously bitter competitors. Next year will see the rise of different committees and consortiums of competing companies in the same industries getting together to share information over a blockchain as they realise the optimisation benefits of doing so outweigh the competitive silos. The benefits of sharing information about people and investments over a blockchain will soon become clear, and this sharing economy will become second nature to competitors.”
Apps will die
Dik Vos, CEO of SQS, said: I believe that 2018 will mark the end of an era for applications (apps). The app was very interesting to businesses and the public alike when it was a new concept. But, as thousands of apps continue to flood the market, we are going to see a more integrated system where the app is no longer separate, but integrated into our day-to-day life.
“There are quite frankly too many apps and the way we want to use them is changing. The network has become vast, access to WiFi and 4G now makes it much easier to stay connected. In 2018, we will see apps become much more integrated into one platform, as the business model for apps continues to change.
