On Cyber Threats to Smart Digital Environments

Cyber threats and attacks have significantly increased in complexity and quantity throughout this past year. In this paper, the top fifteen cyber threats and trends are articulated in detail to provide awareness throughout the community and raising awareness. Specific attack vectors, mitigation techniques, kill chain and threat agents addressing Smart Digital Environments (SDE), including Internet of Things (IoT), are discussed. Due to the rising number of IoT and embedded firmware devices within ubiquitous computing environments such as smart homes, smart businesses and smart cities, the top fifteen cyber threats are being used in a comprehensive manner to take advantage of vulnerabilities and launch cyber operations using multiple attack vectors. What began as ubiquitous, or pervasive, computing is now matured to smart environments where the vulnerabilities and threats are widespread.