Threat actors are getting smarter and more persistent, while companies rush new digital products to market without proper security. The SolarWinds breach showed how one compromised product can take down thousands of organizations and critical infrastructure.
Let's talk about the two biggest factors shaping the future of cybersecurity. Okay, so first it's the threat agents, right? These are the ones conducting the attacks, and they are the catalyst for action. Um, in military terms, they maintain the initiative, right? And the defenders, the security folks, we respond to what they do. So if they find a new vulnerability and attack, well, then we have to figure out how to close that vulnerability and, and, and fix all the issues. So they play a very important role, right? If they just stopped attacking, well, there wouldn't be much for security to do. So with them maintaining the initiative, a lot really depends on the direction that they go. And let's keep in mind their creativity and persistence in finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them, well, that's causing harms. And those harms, well, those drive the investment, those bring the intention to the problems, and therefore innovation then spins up after that in regards to cybersecurity to help address those in both an effective and efficient and sustainable manner. So that's the first aspect, because we're seeing attackers grow, their innovation get better with their creativity, and the amount of damage that they're causing is going up. Okay, so the second major factor is really around our insatiated hunger for digital innovation and the fact that we're adopting it. So fast in our lives. Now, digital technology, it's amazing, right? It's connecting and enriching the lives of people across the globe. But for every benefit, there comes additional risks with that. And digital technology is hugely valuable. Well, where there's value, not that far behind it are the attackers. So it's the scope and speed of this innovation that really kind of drives the second factor because that's increasing. Look at all the different software and services and technology and tools and, and devices that are permeating into our lives. And for the most part, the focus for those things is around getting new products and features features and services to market. Security is not a major priority. In fact, it often remains an afterthought, and that results in a lot of vulnerabilities. Now, rapid adoption of these new technologies reinforces— well, it funds the money to reinvest and create more products and more technologies. And the security of all those legacy ones out there and everything else that's being adopted, it just doesn't get addressed fast enough. So overall, the threat landscape continues to grow. All these digital services and features and toys and, and everything else with their vulnerability, that landscape, that surface area grows. Every year, and this adoption that we have, because we all like new toys and tech and new features that make us more efficient and effective and empowering us, right? We want to bring those into our lives. Companies want to adopt those because there's a benefit for it. That creates a reliance on those very tools and products, and where there's reliance, again, that creates an opportunity for attackers. It brings value in, and if an attacker can either take that value, right, steal it, or keep you from it, like ransomware, right, that is a great opportunity for attackers. And that puts us in a very, very difficult position because we're reliant upon now these new technologies. So we are rapidly building a digital ecosystem that is the perfect candy store for attackers, and especially when attackers can be very efficient and effective at the same time. So for example, um, and I'm going to pick on SolarWinds, uh, the attack that, that happened earlier this year, uh, an attacker was able to compromise one company and get embedded in their products that was distributed by lots of companies, but it was really just hacking one company that created the foundation. And in doing so, they were able to, they had the potential of walking in to almost all of the Fortune 500 companies in the US or around the globe, right? And a vast number of critical infrastructures that the United States relies upon. It also undermined the security of our government agencies with one attack. Think about that interconnected dependence that we have. Again, the chances of them being able to create tremendous harm go up every single day, and this has to be a wake-up call for all of us. So the two biggest factors for the future of cybersecurity are number one, the innovation, growth, and impacts of cyber attackers. As we in security, we have to respond to their actions. And number two, the expansion and adoption of digital innovations, which is creating a growing reliance while increasing the overall attack surface. The combination of these two, if left unaddressed, could have devastating results for everyone. The cybersecurity industry has many serious challenges ahead, but I'll leave that for another video. Thanks for watching. If you like these discussions, please hit the like button and subscribe to the channel for more cybersecurity insights.
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