cyber trends posed by hackers gaining credentials and impersonating users to access data and systems .
“ The picture painted by our research shows CISOs are in urgent need of a strategic rethink ,” said Stuart Jubb , Group Managing Director at Crossword Cybersecurity plc . “ CISOs need to balance their cybersecurity operation ’ s daily load with managing the organisation ’ s long-term requirements . Boards must make sure CISOs have the budget necessary to get short-term issues under control and then begin planning a long-term business-wide strategy . Such a strategy should be supported by a standard operating model with robust processes and policies for the company ’ s entire supply chain . Every month of delay leaves businesses open to potentially crippling cyberattacks .”
The tech trends that matter to cyber professionals
CISOs were also asked about the technology trends they saw as being the most important and relevant over the next 12 months . Several technology categories stood out with cloud transition and cyber in the cloud leading the way ( 41 %), followed by Cyber Security Mesh Architecture ( CSMA – 35 %) and AI / Machine Learning ( 31 %).
Deciding how each of these categories will fit into the short-term cyber goals and longer-term strategy of UK organisations will take serious consideration . However , respondents did report having a clear view on the most important technology components they want to address in their cybersecurity plans in the short term , compared to the next three or five years . Three-quarters
The picture painted by our research shows CISOs are in urgent need of a strategic rethink .
( 75 %) said software verification , which helps to ensure a program is secure , 69 % said cloud transition and 69 % said dealing with ransomware escalation , will be a focus immediately or over the next 12 months . A similar number ( 65 %) identified CSMA – a method for making cybersecurity products interoperable – as a key technology . Other technologies of note included :
• Zero Trust and identity security ( 62 %)
• Quantum data stores / computing ( 55 %)
• AI / Machine Learning ( 55 %)
Jubb concluded : “ Cybersecurity today is in a more tightly squeezed iterative cycle than it was in the past . It demands that organisations take a more strategic and collaborative approach – we recommend appointing a head of cybersecurity strategy , while leaving the CISO to deliver on the immediate challenges . Managing the day-to-day risks is a tough balancing act , but one that can be achieved if CISOs have the right resources to upskill their teams and tools that leverage AI to bring efficiency and automation to help protect their organisation and its supply chain against today ’ s threats .”
Professor Tim Watson , Programme Director , Defence & Security , The Alan Turing Institute and Director , WMG Cyber Security Centre , University of Warwick , commented : “ Collaboration is especially important when it comes to protecting critical national infrastructure because it ’ s rapidly becoming a whole new theatre of conflict between Nation States . It ’ s also not particularly easy because there are so many private and public stakeholders .”
Muttukrishnan Rajarajan ( Raj ), Professor of Security Engineering and Director , Institute for Cyber Security , City , University of London , commented : “ Tackling ransomware is a huge area of focus in the world of research , so I ’ m not surprised this scored highly in the survey . We are often commissioned to work on projects that focus just on this – an attack on one SME can cause a complete supply chain to grind to a halt as we saw with vulnerabilities introduced via the Log4J code libraries recently .” u www . intelligentciso . com
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