Dupla: Luiz Eduardo C. da Mota 3215113 ; Pedro Cicero 3215118
Faculdade Lourenço Filho -- Sistemas I. Manhã
Predictions: More Retail Breaches, BitCoin Will Crash

Money makes the world go around, and there was a lot of it switching hands in 2013. A lot of changes are underway, and 2014 appears to be just more changes ahead.
*Underway = no caminho
*Ahead = a frente
"With the smart and wallet-less payments continuing to grow, security will be at the forefront for all participating players," Paul Kocher president and chief scientist of Cryptography Research.
*Wallet-less =
Online Payments
The payment industry will see a dramatic shift as smart card chips gain a foothold in the United States, but most of the beneficial effects won't be felt until well into 2015. Which means "2014 is another rocky year ahead with a constant barrage of data breaches and increasing fraud," Kocher said. There will be more attacks similar to the recent Target breach, where criminals were able to steal credit and debit card information from compromised point-of-sale terminals.
A lot of the problems we are seeing, such as payment card details being insecurely stored and transmitted can't be solved until the switch to cryptographic technology, Kocher said. While the new version of the Payment Card Industry regulations released in November address the issue of securing point-of-sale technology, it will take time for businesses to replace existing hardware and to improve security, he said.
Sophisticated malware that was previously developed for attacking high security banking sites will now attack online businesses in other industries, said Andreas Baumhof, chief technology officer of ThreatMetrix. The attacks aren't new, but many of these other industries are not "nearly as prepared" as banks are in preventing cyber-crime.
Alternative Payments
        In circulation for several years now, BitCoins really burst onto mainstream consciousness in 2013, with more retailers and merchants accepting the digital currency. The popularity boom sent the value of BitCoins soaring into the $1,000/BTC territory, and federal government started paying attention.
BitCoin will collapse in value in 2014, said Dmitry Bestuzhev, head of the Global Research and Analysis Team in Latin America for Kaspersky Lab. While the structure of the crypto-currency itself will be instact, "a simple thing like inflation may crush the value of BitCoins," Bestuzhev said. Increased technical attacks against BitCoin mining and malware stealing BitCoins from user wallets could impact the BitCoin value, as well as any regulatory steps governments may take, he said.
BitCoins weren't the only alternatives to cash and credit cards this year, as more and more people used Facebook credits, gift cards, and other forms of payment. We will see more forms of alternative payments in 2014, along with an increase in criminal activity, Baumhof said. Unregulated payments are at risk for theft by malware and money laundering, he said.
We've looked at new attack targets, changes in how the Internet works, mobile security, and now online and mobile payments. Next up: Internet of Things.