2022 has been busy in the cyber world. While there were signals in 2021 with the increased in activity in threat actors targeting OT environments with ransomware, the conflict in Ukraine prompted many businesses to press harder in asking more questions about their own resilience with operational technologies (OT) and supply chain infrastructure.
“Approximately 64% of global CISOs were hired from another company” according to the 2021 MH Global CISO Research Report. The reasons are because of talent shortages, the role is still new to some companies, and companies have not created a succession plan to support internal promotions. To overcome these challenges, companies can look to Virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) or a vCISO as a service provider.
Cyber insurance coverage? Through the roof these days. Also, coverage is not that easy to get. The many breaches and the dollar judgements handed down make cyber insurance another costly operating investment. A mid-sized client of mine, as an example, pays $1 million in annual cyber insurance costs just to do business with its commercial and government customers. The issue adds another twist to the topic of third-party risk.
Measuring risk is key to business continuity. A growing attack surface will present many businesses with challenges of how to manage their enterprise assets and maintain a robust cyber security posture. An expanding remote workforce, increasing levels of data and the continuous rollout of evolutionary solutions can all present hackers with potential entry points to exploit if security measures are not in place.
When I look at IT security I can clearly see how it has changed, being today much more mature now than it’s ever been. Governments are working on policies and legislation forcing companies to prioritize IT security. As a result, the entire bug bounty community has bloomed in a way that I could never imagine, security researchers are now working together with companies to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in a way that we have never done before.
Cyber attacks are an ever–present threat and hackers continue to develop more sophisticated ways to gain access to business data. Organisations host a vast amount of sensitive information online that can be exploited by cybercriminals if left unprotected. With the way business is conducted, including an increase in remote workers and migration to the cloud, businesses need to implement strong security controls to bolster their cyber posture and secure their data.
