July 2023: Droves of Data
Hey farmers of data, welcome back! I've got a field ripe with data for you all ready to go. Lots of "state of" and spending-related data points this month, and one I included because it validated what I've been seeing over the past year with respect to technologies rising. There isn't a lot of reports on those because most people probably don't want to read about the "Top Ten Functions in #WASM ." That would be interesting to some of us, but apparently not enough for someone to sit down and write it.
Still, the rising importance and adoption rates of certain types of technologies are often indicative of larger trends. Consider the rise of #opentelemetry , for example, and how it - and of late, #ebpf - are driving activity in the market around #observability . That's why I suggest a read of the InfoQ Cloud and #DevOps Trend Report . It's a great list of the technologies driving trends and I found it to be quite accurate, in my not so humble opinion.
But enough of that. We have data to harvest and we don't want to let it sit on the vine too long, so let's get picking, shall we?
The State Of Everything revolves around security
Alright, let's just walk through these one by one. First up is Salt Security with the State of the CISO 2023 . I was kinda disappointed that this report did not include the descriptive terms "pressured, overwhelmed, or under-funded" but I guess they were using the term state to mean more of a snapshot in time.
One of the reasons CISO's are certainly challenged right now is the rapid rise of APIs and the risk that poses to customer and corporate data. It's no surprise that #api security is the most pressing concern in the office of just about every CISO. We don't really need a survey to validate the criticality of API security, but let's use this one any way to drive the point home:
95% of CISOs plan to prioritize API security over the next two years
Yeah, it's that important. You might remember that the biggest breach of 2023 so far was executed through an API. Yeah, that T-Mobile breach back in January that impacted about 37 million customers was an API-related breach. So it's no wonder that CISOs are focusing in on API security.
But getting in the way is a skills gap that will be hard to fill. According to PluralSight - who brings us both the State of #Cloud and the Tech Forecast - 43% of respondents tagged #cyerbsecurity as the top personal skills gap. Right behind it is the 39% tagging #cloud as a significant skills gap. That's a problem because 75% of leaders are apparently building security tools in the cloud and the top tech "in demand" right now is - you guessed it - #security .
Uh oh.
That gap between need and ability to fill it is likely to be addressed by generative AI. I know that didn't surprise you. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE is rushing to cash in on the goldmine that is #generativeAI .
So says the IBM Institute for Business Value in its State of Enterprise Generative AI . By 2024, 62% of enterprises will be piloting, implementing, operating, and optimizing generative AI with only 37% considering and evaluating. Alright, but how does that help the CISO?
Well, the number one priority - 64% of leaders tagged it as the top use case - is securing IT and information #security .
But wait, there's a problem. You see, IBM also found in its CEO decision-making in the age of AI? that the biggest barrier to adoption of generative AI is ... wait for it ... security.
Yeah, it's a big Catch-22 right now, isn't it? The industry wants to use AI to address security concerns but security concerns are stopping them from using AI.
Security. Security. Security.
I feel like Jan Brady complaining about Marsha, but it seems that right now security is the epicenter of all things IT. Whether it's generative AI or budgets or cloud, it seems that everything gravitates toward security.
With a skills deficit and the macroeconomic environment, that's not a surprise. Every organizations is looking to optimize operations and budgets while balancing the need for more and better security.
AI is one way to do that, but it's not going to happen overnight. So buckle up and hunker down, because security looks to remain a top priority for the rest of the year.
Stay safe out there!