CYBERSECURITY PREDICTIONS FOR 2022

BEYONDTRUST HAS RELEASED ITS ANNUAL FORECAST OF CYBERSECURITY TRENDS EMERGING FOR THE NEW YEAR AND BEYOND. THESE PROJECTIONS, AUTHORED BY BEYONDTRUST EXPERTS MOREY J. HABER, CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER, BRIAN CHAPPELL, CHIEF SECURITY STRATEGIST EMEA/APAC, AND JAMES MAUDE, LEAD CYBER SECURITY RESEARCHER, ARE BASED ON SHIFTS IN TECHNOLOGY, THREAT ACTOR HABITS, CULTURE, AND DECADES OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE.

Prediction #1: Space Travel – Taking advantage of the huge wave of space tourism, expect phishing attacks and faux websites to crop up across social media and the Internet.

Prediction #2: Cybersecurity Talent

Resources – 2022 will prove to be the most challenging year yet with regards to the ongoing cybersecurity talent crunch. Some drivers of this supply-demand imbalance include the accelerated adoption of hybrid cloud and digital transformation initiatives, post-pandemic projects ramping up, and budgets becoming available for spend. Security posture improvements will be at the top of the list of desired projects. The imbalance will cause salary spikes across the board for every level of IT security professional.

Prediction #3: 5G in Everything —

Consumers and businesses can expect that newer devices will be cellular-enabled, or cellular capable, to provide services outside of local area and Wi-Fi networks. This will allow connectivity using a subscription model and remove the barriers and troubleshooting required for connectivity on home or small business networks.

Prediction #4: Ransomware Reinvented

– In 2021, the ransomware model evolved to include data extortion based on exfiltrated information. The evolution will continue and new paradigms to extort money will emerge in 2022. Organisations should expect ransomware to become personalised and increasingly involve different types of assets, like IoT, as well as company insiders. Targeted disclosure of exfiltrated information may be perpetrated to specific buyers. We may even start to see more flexible terms of payment, as opposed to lump sum payouts. With installment plans, ransomware operators will decrypt victim assets over time, based on agreed upon payout terms.

Prediction #5: Supply Chain Kinks —

Supply chain attacks will further mature in 2022, expand in scope, and increase in sophistication. Expect far more thirdparty solutions and common development practices to be targeted. Organisations need to include third party supply chain breaches in their incident response plans and plan for a public and private response, just in case they become an inadvertent victim for a licensed solution.

Prediction #6: Cyber Insurance

Termination — Expect a tsunami of cyber insurance cancellations and a mad scramble to obtain new coverage, potentially at much higher rates. To obtain coverage and ensure the best rates, organisations will need to demonstrate the proper cybersecurity hygiene demanded by cyber insurance underwriters. Failure to have agreed upon cybersecurity controls in place will also be a key argument for insurers to refuse paying out after an incident, or to terminate coverage.

Prediction #7: Freedom of Social

Networks — Social networks will be under increasing pressure to control the content posted by their users. This is also likely to result in broader powers for the authorities to trace and identify malicious sources. Expect to see tighter controls on the content that is distributed via social platforms, reliable attestation for the source of the material, and potentially access to the data for authorities.

Prediction #8: Softly, Softly — Next year will see the average time from intrusion to detection grow, giving attackers more time to perform reconnaissance and wreak havoc on systems. Expect a lot of careful hackers to find their way into systems and establish long-term residences there.

Prediction #9: Broken Record — The number of successful attacks will continue to grow, the average cost to the victim organisation per successful attack will rise, and the pattern will repeat. With so many new and shiny technologies to choose from, the IT security basics just aren’t exciting.

The seeds of rushed implementation of remote working and digital transformation bore fruit in the form of once-in-a-decade breaches like SolarWinds, Colonial Pipeline and others that seemed to occur monthly. Looking ahead helps us anticipate where cyber threat actors will undoubtedly head as they look to take advantage of this paradigm shift. At BeyondTrust, we plan to provide the best security solutions to address current and future attack vectors, which our customers and partners expect.

IT IS TIME TO HIRE A CMO

TERENCE SATHYANARAYAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PULSE INNOVATIVE SYSTEMS, WRITES ABOUT HOW A CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER HELPS COMPANY GROWTH.

Achief marketing officer (CMO) is an executive who manages the company’s marketing functions. The CMO may have a few different responsibilities, but generally, they manage all aspects of the company’s marketing strategy and execution to achieve business goals. As companies evolve, so does their need for someone with experience in creating innovative solutions.

Let’s take a look at how the role of CMO has evolved and the impact they have on a company. A chief marketing officer (CMO) is an executive who manages the company’s marketing functions.

The CMO role has undergone significant changes since the 1980s. The expansion of technology and increased marketing complexity means that marketing leaders must be able to understand all aspects of the business, including strategy, finance, operations, sales, and more. The industry landscape is also changing faster than ever before, with emerging technologies like mobile apps and social media requiring robust capabilities in analytics, content marketing, and more.

In the 1980s, CMOs were mainly charged with running advertising campaigns and promoting their company’s brand in public relations. They also could have been responsible for managing a small marketing team -- everything from product launches to events was the CMO’s responsibility. As marketers began acquiring larger responsibilities, they moved away from the traditional marketing department structure to a more integrated team. To support this shift, companies began adding new positions such as digital and search engine marketers.

As companies became more customercentric during the 1990s and 2000s, it raised the need for CMOs to understand their customers’ needs and make decisions based on customer insights. In response, companies began to build a stronger focus around the customer and added specific roles such as chief customer officers and vice presidents of customer experience. Additionally, CMO’s were charged with taking a more strategic role within their organizations -- managing the company’s marketing strategy instead of just its execution. This meant that they had to keep up with the latest technologies and become more involved with product development.

Today, companies are putting a substantial focus on data-driven marketing with many even employing chief data officers. The emergence of big data has meant that marketers now have access to more information about their customers than ever before, which can help them create better strategies and improve results. As a result, 70% of companies have increased their budgets for marketing analytics in the past year alone. This increase is primarily due to the need for CMOs to help provide analytical insights that can be used across all departments.

In addition, digital has moved from a departmental responsibility to a companywide focus. The CMO today needs to understand how to create and integrate social, mobile, local, and more digital marketing initiatives into the overall marketing strategy. They also must be able to manage this process across all channels -- offline promotions like TV ads and in-store signage still play a vital role in effective campaigns.

A CMO’s main responsibility is to drive growth for the company. They are responsible for managing the company’s marketing function, which includes all areas related to marketing -- advertising, social media, or PR. As technology continues to advance, so does the need for marketers who understand data analytics and digital strategies. The CMO has very big shoes to fill. The entire company is looking to the CMO to drive growth and keep up with changes in technology.

As the advances in technology have shifted how companies market themselves, hiring someone with experience has become incredibly important for success. CMO’s are responsible for data analytics and digital marketing initiatives, which means they must understand how to create and integrate social, mobile, local, and more digital marketing initiatives into the overall marketing strategy. They are also responsible for managing all channels of a campaign, which requires experience in data analytics that can help them manage offline promotions like TV ads and in-store signage. Finally, CMO’s must remain up-to-date with technology changes to help their company grow.

CMO’s who understand and stay upto-date with the changes in technology will ace their job and be able to help drive revenue growth. CMO’s can increase a company’s ROIC (return on invested capital) by focusing on leveraging data to improve operational efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability. They should focus on improving these three areas concerning how they can leverage data. CMO’s need to be aware of how their company is determining the value of its customers to determine ROI and understand technology changes to drive revenue growth.