Cyber attacks aren’t just a military problem. There’s also political and commercial ramifications to our reliance on networks and connected devices and systems. The Cambridge Analytica Facebook scandal is a prime example of how technology can be used to promote influence. But cyber operations can also be used for espionage and infiltration.
The threat facing businesses isn’t new, but it is growing. Research firm Gartner forecasts worldwide enterprise security spending will total $96.3 billion in 2018, representing a +8% Y/Y increase, and expects 60% of organizations to invest in some form of cybersecurity by 2020, up from roughly 35% today.
- Starting in 2013, the Director of National Intelligence named cyber threats as the number one strategic threat to the US, the first time anything ranked ahead of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks.
Escalating Uncertainties: Up close
The future will be determined by those who are willing to reinvest, adapt and turn future threats into opportunities.