Predicted Cybersecurity Trends Shaping 2016 Landscape
In the rapidly evolving landscape of cybersecurity, businesses in 2016 were urged to adopt an intelligence-led security approach to enhance their incident response and risk mitigation capabilities. This strategy, which integrates threat intelligence with proactive security practices and structured incident response planning, remains foundational in today's digital age.
Establishing a Solid Foundation
The first step towards an effective cybersecurity strategy is to establish a clear foundation. This involves defining cybersecurity policies, creating asset inventories, and conducting a business impact analysis. By understanding what needs protecting and prioritizing resources accordingly, businesses can create a robust defense against potential threats.
Gathering and Analyzing Threat Intelligence
Gathering and analyzing relevant threat intelligence is another crucial aspect of an intelligence-led approach. This intelligence, sourced from both internal and external sources, helps businesses anticipate potential attack vectors and motives. By using this intelligence to guide proactive defense measures and inform incident response actions, businesses can stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
Developing an Incident Response Plan (IRP)
A scalable, testable Incident Response Plan (IRP) is essential for any cybersecurity strategy. This plan integrates cross-functional communication and assigns clear responsibilities, ensuring a coordinated response to security incidents. Regular exercises based on intelligence-derived scenarios can further improve preparedness and coordination between teams.
Leveraging Technology
Leveraging automation and advanced technologies, such as AI-driven threat detection, can accelerate the identification and analysis of incidents, reducing response times and enabling more accurate mitigation actions. Fostering collaboration and information sharing within the organization and with trusted external entities can also enrich threat intelligence and improve situational awareness.
A Look Back at 2016
In 2016, organizations began integrating threat intelligence feeds and embracing automation to some extent. However, capabilities have since advanced greatly. Businesses could use intelligence feeds for contextual awareness of threats relevant to their industry, employ manual and emerging automated tools for monitoring and correlation of events to detect anomalies early, and conduct regular incident response exercises based on intelligence-derived scenarios.
The Impact of Past Events
The Snowden leaks had a significant impact on the industry, with smaller countries, some with repressive regimes, scrambling to acquire the same capabilities as major powers for hacking and online espionage. The fallout from these leaks is starting to impact the relationship between the US and Europe, potentially leading to increased focus on security for private data when it crosses borders to keep it out of the hands of US intelligence agencies.
Emerging Trends
The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming more common within enterprise and industrial environments and must be managed in line with an organization's overall security strategy. There will be a greater emphasis on advanced analytics, looking for the needle in the haystack, and increased awareness that organizations need to reduce complexity and have greater visibility across their estate.
The Future of Cybersecurity
Car manufacturers and regulators will need to place a stronger focus on cyber security, as more and more of the electronic control units (ECUs) in modern connected cars are connected via the internet, exposing them to a variety of threats. There will be increased emphasis on machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed, in the context of information security and risk management.
Challenges Ahead
Despite the advancements in cybersecurity, challenges remain. For instance, most companies have controls and processes to manage Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), but wearables and connected devices are not yet typically considered part of an organisation's risk management strategy. As more devices become connected, the security implications will grow. Additionally, laws and treaties are being passed to prevent the proliferation of tools and knowledge essential for hacking and online espionage, but concerns exist that these laws may hinder legitimate security research, leaving more exposed vulnerabilities.
Effective incident response relies on robust preparation, good practice, processes, procedures, awareness, and the right technologies. As we move forward, businesses must continue to evolve their cybersecurity strategies to stay ahead of the ever-changing threat landscape.
