Cyber security isn’t easy.
As malicious actors continue to evolve with the times, security protocols and strategies are more critical than ever. The past year has seen a significant number of organisations fall victim to cyber attacks, from Uber and Cisco through to Twilio demonstrating that no business is immune from these insidious threats.
As we plan for 2023 it’s imperative that CISOs look ahead in order to gain greater insight into upcoming cyber security trends. Doing so will equip them with best practice approaches enabling them to remain one step ahead of their adversaries as they strive towards optimising security and reducing risk within their organisations.
1. Board cyber security readiness will become business imperative
Cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated and require the active participation of board directors to ensure customer trust is prioritised.
By offering financial security through robust cyber risk management activities, boards can help position cyber security as a strategic enabler for stronger relationships between customers, vendors, employees and shareholders.
It’s essential that everyone involved in this process recognises how vital an effective cyber protection strategy is – not only providing peace-of-mind across stakeholders but also enabling continued growth within organisations.
2. Connected device visibility and security will be a major area of focus for most organisations
IoT devices have become ubiquitous for most organisations today, but security governance has often been overlooked. As the number of connected devices grows, the attack surface for the networks and ecosystems to which they’re connected grows as well, creating exponentially more security, data and privacy risks.
In 2023, leading businesses will invest in better policies and procedures surrounding connected device usage. This should include regular inventories of all IoT equipment deployed within the organisation, correlating IoT and IT networks, and monitoring connected devices more closely to further secure endpoints, manage vulnerabilities, and respond to incidents.
3. Security will become imperative to building brand and customer trust
Digital transformation has revolutionised the way businesses and customers interact, with 72% of customer engagements now digital-driven. This shift in dynamics is pushing an increase in demands for more control over data sharing, greater transparency on corporate policies regarding its handling and a boost to trust between parties – all offering more engaged experiences if that trust can be secured.
With customers becoming ever more conscious of their data security and privacy, businesses must take urgent steps to ensure trust. By utilising up-to-date methods, such as improved compliance tasks and increased security measures, organisations can improve the customer experience while enhancing brand recognition.
4. Focus of future-forward cyber readiness
The past few years have exemplified how quickly the world can transform – be it in industry dynamics, political spheres, or technology.
With this great fluidity comes an incredible opportunity to build more secure cyber risk management practices that not only protect organisations from existing and emerging security threats but also help them gain a competitive edge through introducing greater value for their customers.
Forward-thinking organisations will actively seek to plan and build a unified cyber security strategy to ensure they are agile enough to seize future opportunities. With the market ever-changing, companies must stay ahead of innovation while still maintaining compliance with regulations – this is what makes having an effective cyber security plan key for success.
5. Integrated approach to cyber security will be key for resilience
Organisations are becoming more connected to the global marketplace, and this is creating an extensive risk landscape, with threats originating from all areas. The multitude of supply chain, geopolitical, environmental, and cyber attack events faced by organisations challenge traditional risk programmes and are drawing increased regulatory scrutiny.
Integrated security solutions are a great way to reduce complexity and streamline processes. Businesses can benefit from a single platform that provides visibility into their infrastructure so they can better detect potential threats and respond quickly if an attack should occur. This type of solution also offers scalability so businesses can easily adjust as needed without making additional purchases or upgrades.
By leading with an integrated view of the risk scenarios that threaten core business operations, organisations can employ an integrated approach to cyber security that is attuned to situational awareness to emerging threats and improve their ability to respond to disruptions.
6. Complex supply chain security risks will continue to emerge
Today’s hyperconnected global economy has driven organisations to heavily depend on their supply chains. This interdependence makes a holistic approach to supply chain security and risk transformation imperative for today’s globally connected businesses.
For businesses seeking to increase their protection from external threats and risks, third-party assessments are no longer enough; instead, organisations must turn towards real-time monitoring for inbound software components as well as implementing identity and access management (IAM)/Zero Trust capabilities that will limit unauthorised access to systems and data. By doing so, organisations can ensure a safer connection between themselves and those with whom they do business.
7. Outsourcing cyber security will evolve due to severe cyber talent shortage and growing labour cost
Cyber security risks have been on an exponential rise in terms of breadth, complexity and frequency. Regulatory bodies, boards and even employees are applying extra pressure to adequately manage these threats.
But this challenge is further compounded by a shortage of talent in niche security roles, leaving organisations exposed without adequate resources or capabilities to combat attacks.
To remain agile and optimise operational processes, organisations will need to focus on the hire and retention of niche cyber talent along with outsourcing strategies in order to manage core cyber security functions.
8. Cloud security approaches will mature at an accelerated pace
The proliferation of cloud services presents opportunities for business growth through accelerated development, enhanced scalability and collaboration, new revenue streams, business agility, and greater technical resilience.
Yet as organisations embrace these innovative resources, it’s critical they don’t overlook the importance of bolstering security throughout their transformation process; failure can be costly if confronted with regulatory challenges or cyber threats.
By embracing security and digital transformation together, and leveraging intersectionality of cloud-based architectures, modernised “secure-by-design” processes and adoption of Zero Trust principles, organisations can enable agile secure transformation to promote greater confidence.
9. Evolving threats to operational technology in manufacturing and other environments
As cyber criminals become more sophisticated, the risk of attack on industrial processes and secure operational technology (OT) networks is increasingly real. To make matters worse, a lack of talented personnel for containment alongside overlapping IT/OT environments fails to provide enough protection from these malicious threats.
Organisations can implement cyber threat identification, detection, and prevention controls to address OT security risks by taking steps inclusive of:
- Increasing visibility to devices.
- Implementing OT network segmentation.
- Implementing security tools for the OT environment.
- Correlating security information from OT and IT networks.
- Establishing security operations centres (SOCs) that address OT and IT networks.
10. Optimising cyber investments: doing more with less
In the last few years, businesses have built up their cyber resilience in response to the continued increase in threat levels. Combined with the complexity of digital transformation and the changing financial reality, now is the time to steer the conversation about cyber security – how can businesses increase protection without exceeding their budgets?
Today, businesses can do more with less, benefitting from end-to-end solutions spanning security, compliance, identity, device management, and privacy across multiclouds and platforms. Now is the time to simplify cyber security and use it as an enabler for your business, whilst optimising existing investments and gaining accelerated ROI.
Addressing the biggest trends in cyber security
As we move into 2023, organisations need to be prepared for an increasingly complex and ever-changing cyber security landscape. By taking a proactive and integrated approach to cyber security, organisations can build resilience against the evolving threats of tomorrow.
With all the new cyber security advancements over the last few years combined with digital transformation complexities and tighter budgets, now is the time for CISOs and CIOs alike to steer the conversation about how best to protect their business against attacks without exceeding budget limits – with an integrated approach to cyber security that will help them achieve their goals faster while gaining accelerated ROI on their investments.
