Cloud adoption has come a long way from its early days where corporate executives questioned the stewardship of their data. The initial suspicions of “where’s my data” have been laid to rest, as administrative tools and contractual obligations have emerged to give better visibility to, and accountability of, data custodianship. Even the capabilities of technology professionals have been enhanced to include full certification paths towards demonstrating cloud proficiency.

Perhaps Disaster Recovery (DR) isn’t one of the hot terms like the Internet of Things (IoT) or Hybrid Cloud, but I would argue that re-examining your DR plan now might be one of the most important IT management initiatives on which you can focus your energy.

As a former systems and network administrator, I understand the demands that are placed on today’s IT professionals. It’s true that skills gap continues to hamper IT and security personnel, for example. In early 2020, Tripwire revealed the results of a survey in which 83% of security professionals noted that they felt more overworked going into that year than they did at the start of 2019.

Global supply chains are bearing the brunt of ransomware attacks, according to a new report that finds manufacturing was the most targeted industry during 2021. Knocking financial services and insurance off the top of the heap after a long reign, the manufacturing industry was found by IBM to be the most attacked sector – accounting for 23% of reports of ransomware.

Enterprises today rely on partners and vendors to help manage their data. Some companies depend on third-party infrastructure for day-to-day operations, so understanding the regulations and protection standards that a service provider is promising to uphold is very important.

In the early years of cybersecurity, it was often said that people are the weakest link. This did nothing to encourage support, as it was insulting and demeaning. The new and better way to inspire people towards a cybersecurity mindset is to engage with and treat them as a valuable part of an organization’s overall cybersecurity initiative.

I took note of the recent uptick in discussions about the concept of observation in the IT world and found myself compelled to come back to the topic, which I’ve touched on previously in my blog posts.

Part of operating an effective security program is the ability to never rest upon any previous success. When guarding against an adversary, yesterday’s success is quickly eclipsed by the dynamic shift in the attacker’s tactics. Just as a doctor “rules out” a particular diagnosis, an effective attacker first searches for well-known vulnerabilities using catalogs of offensive exploits. These are part of the attacker’s playbook.

Cybersecurity is never static, and that’s especially true today. After widespread and frequent disruptions in the past few years, the cyber defense landscape is shifting. Favored attack vectors are changing, new threats are emerging, and organizations are rethinking their cybersecurity focus. Staying safe in the next few years requires an understanding of these developments. With that in mind, here are five data-backed predictions for how the state of cybersecurity will change.

Organizations are under constant threat of cybercrime. While there are many available attack vectors, email is the most obvious path towards a full network compromise. The notion that email security should be prioritized is emphasized during this time where more and more businesses are still working in a remote or hybrid dynamic environment.