2018 will be the year malicious software becomes smarter and cyber criminals increasingly chase crypto-currencies like bitcoin, according to predictions from computer security companies.

It will also be the year ransomware — software designed by hackers that locks up computer systems until a fee is paid — will become more targeted and prevalent among big business, where ransom demands are often much higher in dollar value due to businesses having more money to divulge than consumers, according to computer security firm Fortinet.

Cyber attacks are set to get a lot smarter.

Derek Manky, global security strategist at Fortinet, says that although the threat magnitude of ransomware has grown by 35 times over 2017 with "ransomworms" and other types of attacks, there is more to come.

"The next big target for ransomware is likely to be cloud service providers and other commercial services with a goal of creating revenue streams," he says, pointing to one ransom that resulted in $US1 million being paid by a web hosting company in 2017.