23 Aug Talents are Needed to Prevent Growing Cybersecurity Threats

The abrupt shift to digitization had many businesses in disarray, struggling to keep up with the rapid changes the pandemic had brought to business operations. While the road to digitization was a foreseeable phenomenon, the majority of businesses now are subject to cybersecurity risks more than ever. 

Stéphane Nappo of Société Générale explains the impact of cybersecurity issues this way, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and a few minutes of cyber-incident to ruin it.” His statement highlights the massive repercussions a cyber-incident can make. The digital landscape is indeed an efficient path, yet it can be potentially as risky as it is efficient. 

World-renowned enterprises are not immune to cyberattacks as well. For instance, a very popular virtual conferencing provider enjoyed a significant increase in revenue when the pandemic started, but it experienced several security incidents where 500,000 user accounts were posted for sale on the dark web. Taiwan-based PC manufacturer, Acer encountered its highest ransom demand of $50 million earlier this year.

This goes to show that no business can escape cyber risks in the digital realm. That’s why strategies should be set up in place to tackle this ever-growing issue now that businesses are forced into the digital world. Talents who can help companies handle cybersecurity on an international scale are essential. Mobility professionals will need to make sure that they have these talents ready when companies come calling.

Deloitte derived some insights on the matter. It suggests businesses analyze trends and drivers of future trust in the digital landscape so that decision-makers can craft fitting strategies based upon these data.

In Deloitte’s Future of Digital Trust study, it identifies the following driving forces that shape cybersecurity strategies:

• Social (mental health, digital ethics, reality apathy, fake news, acceptance of data-tracked existence)
• Technological (blockchain, artificial intelligence, automation, deep fakes, biotechnology)
• Economic (surveillance capitalism, entrepreneurship in cybersecurity, cyber espionage, monopolies of tech giants, importance of the human workforce)
• Environmental (clean energy, technotrash disposal, awareness of digital-climate connect, urban development, green computing)
• Political (data protection and privacy regulation, election and voting manipulation, intentional misuse of information, threat of cyber extremism, multilateral cyber cooperation)
• Legal (Data and privacy regulations, global applicability of cyber regulation, regulatory complexity, antitrust regulation, actuality of cyber regulation)

Having identified these factors and determined their influence on digital trust, Deloitte formulates these solid implications.

Rethinking of the enabling potential of technology

Deloitte explains that in cybersecurity, two perspectives should be taken into account. First is the continuously increasing volume of information that contributes more complexity to cyber security. Here, companies must establish measures to reduce the complexities of data and simplify processes.

The second perspective is said to be found by looking through a “security lens.” Cyber attackers shouldn’t be the only ones utilizing technology for their gain. Businesses ought to invest in technological advancements to protect their tangible and intangible assets from cyber threats that can potentially lead to millions in losses.

Deloitte recommends leveraging technology to automate cybersecurity processes. In addition, it encourages companies to follow a risk-based approach and adopt a “never trust, always verify” principle within the company.

The fragmentation and expansion of responsibility and accountability for digital

Before digital transformation was widely spread, anything to do with technology was handed off to IT professionals and a few other departments in an organization who possess the skills set to address any aspect of technology. 

Currently, both internal and external stakeholders of a company are intertwined technologically. This means that most, if not all, stakeholders carry the same burden of ensuring digital trust.

It’s recommended to adopt a co-creation approach to cybersecurity systems. Global mobility and HR departments should also be carefully included since they deal with sensitive information. Deloitte further states that all areas of the organization, whether the nature of their work is technical or not, should share equal amounts of responsibility in cyber security.

Priority of data as a governing principle

Data is the inevitable driving force that influences most businesses’ decision-making. Handling data is a matter of importance as business models steer toward leveraging information to provide smart services generating data across all aspects of the business. Cyber security systems must govern how information is being handled, rather than guiding it,

Now with data amassing to exponential volumes, it’s important to revisit the data life cycle management from its birth all the way to its deletion. One thing companies need to maintain is their compliance with the security standard mandated by the authorities. This will guide organizations to achieve cyber-risk resistance. 

Gone are the days where data settled for pen and paper methods. Given the current position of technological advancement, businesses should stay vigilant to create more forward-looking cyber security strategies to avoid huge monetary losses.