Future-proofing cybersecurity in the digital age

I see cybersecurity only increasing in importance as we move through the digital decade. The growth of internet use, the uploading of assets online, and the continuous implementation of new technologies have made businesses more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Not to mention our increasing appetite to become interconnected globally – all of these have created a whole new set of challenges to managing security.

Data Breaches in 2021 have increased significantly from previous years. This swell can be largely attributed to our shift to remote and hybrid working as a response to the global health crisis. The IDC Semiannual Security Spending Guide (August 2022) forecasts pending on security solutions and services in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) to exceed $31 billion in 2022, an increase of 15.5% from 2021. [1]

The true costs of a poor cybersecurity framework

Dell Technologies’ recent Breakthrough Study?revealed that 65.9 per cent of respondents in APJ agree that their employees are the weakest link across their cybersecurity defenses because they fail to galvanize a strong cybersecurity mindset. Close to half of APJ respondents also admitted that they have not substantially improved their security awareness or behaviors even after hearing about high-profile cyber or ransomware attacks.

Another thing that comes to my mind when evaluating a business’ cybersecurity framework is its unstructured data management. If not managed properly, its growth increases the risk of ransomware and data breaches. An IDC study?anticipated that the Global DataSphere is expected to more than double in size from 2022 to 2026, and that unstructured data overwhelmingly dominates, accounting for more than 90% of the data created each year. As the volume and value of data rise, criminal attempts to steal or exploit it grow as well.

On a policy front, I am heartened to see government cybersecurity frameworks being implemented to educate the general public and increase industry vigilance on cybersecurity. The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has rolled out multiple cybersecurity campaigns like the “Better Cyber Safe than Sorry” which aims to increase awareness of cybersecurity and improve adoption of good cybersecurity practices in daily life. In fact, CSA has partnered with Dell in its SG Cyber Safe Partnership Programme, where CSA works with industry partners to raise the cybersecurity awareness of enterprises in Singapore. As part of this partnership, Dell has been onboarded as a solutions provider that complements Cyber Trust.

Cybersecurity in the metaverse

In my last article, I talked about how the world is preparing to explore the potential of the metaverse, and how digital twins are on the frontier of various industries along with the infinite possibilities that this unique landscape offers, introducing a new variant of cyber threats.

For instance, digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are extensively used in the metaverse, both of which can be easily hacked in the same way crypto assets can be stolen from digital wallets. Just this year, I saw hundreds of users of the Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange platform who had their accounts hacked. Apart from the risks mentioned, data breaches come with a very hefty price tag. A cybercrime can cost an organization at least $13M, and reputational damage that can impact the business for many years.

Cyber resilience & recovery: a more holistic approach to cybersecurity

While cybersecurity broadly refers to an organization’s ability to protect against cyber threats, I find that cyber resilience – the ability to mitigate damage and recover from cyber-attacks – is just as important.

Cyber threats continue to evolve, and hackers are becoming smarter and more sophisticated. But I find it encouraging to see that many organizations are also moving from a threat-prevention strategy to a cyber resilience approach. Business leaders have finally grasped that prevention will not always be a 100 per cent success and have come to terms that effective data recovery after an attack will save the day.

In fact, Dell’s cybersecurity model, Zero Trust, shifts how organizations approach security from reliance solely on perimeter defenses to a proactive strategy that allows only known good activity across ecosystems and data pipelines. In a testament to delivering holistic cybersecurity solutions, Dell plans to open a Zero Trust Center of Excellence in DreamPort, the U.S. Cyber Command’s premier cybersecurity innovation facility. The Zero Trust Center provides a cybersecurity blueprint for customers to test their environments on a U.S. Department of Defense-approved architecture before deployment.

In an organization, Chief Information Officers at the top should actively advocate for more education and training for their employees, equip members with the tools and skillset to fight cyber threats, and focus on improving cyber defense and recovery technologies.

Data security should not be seen as a drag for employees or an uphill battle for IT teams – it should be a seamless collaboration where all stakeholders of an organization work together to future-proof the company’s cybersecurity.

Where are the gaps and how can we address them?

Without the resources to address cyber threats, loss of sensitive data and risk of reputational damage continues to loom over organizations. Closing this gap is not only a business imperative but also important to national security and our daily lives.

As Cybersecurity Awareness Month comes to a close, I implore business leaders and decision-makers to review your cybersecurity strategy in place and ensure that it accounts for all types of cyber threats and continues to evolve, only increasing in scale and sophistication. Cyber-attacks never sleep, and we’ll never know when they will happen to us. Businesses should always be vigilant and stay not just ahead of the competition, but also of the cybercriminals.

[1] IDC, Worldwide IDC Global DataSphere Forecast, 2022–2026: Enterprise Organizations Driving Most of the Data Growth, #US49018922, May 2022

IDC, Worldwide Global DataSphere and Global StorageSphere Structured and Unstructured Data Forecast, 2022-2026, #US49084022, May 2022

#ZeroTrust #CyberSecurity?#CybersecurityAwarenessMonth #CyberResilience #DigitalTrust