GARTNER CYBER INSIGHTS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory company, which equips business leaders with insights, advice, and tools that help build organizations. It operates through the following segments: Research, Consulting, and Conferences. The Integrator met with Richard Addiscott, to understand why Gartner’s insights and advice via reports, briefings, and proprietary tools are critical for businesses in the Middle East.

What are some of Gartner's top cyber security predictions for the years 2022-2023?

The predictions are on privacy and the number of people who will be covered by modern privacy laws. 60% of organizations use cyber risk as a primary determinant in deciding with whom they do business with third parties.

The next prediction is around the weaponization of operational technology environments by hackers to cause physical harm. We have seen operational technology challenges for several years. But what's happening is, it used to primarily be around people being annoying. So, they turn off the power or, do those sorts of things, whereas now there's this weaponization where operational technology environments cause physical harm.

The following one is about the increasing levels of board oversight that we are seeing. For a variety of reasons, boards have clearly had to take a much greater interest in cyber security. Cyber-attacks are becoming more common. They recognize that it is becoming more of a business risk, and the impact of a cyber event irritates the information technology department. It disrupts security for about ten minutes while they repair it. However, the impact of the breach or disruption to operations has an impact on customer satisfaction and revenue cost. However, none of these are indicators of the security team's performance. As a result, your organization's security posture should play a larger role, and boards should make investments based on risk appetite.

And any prediction about zero trust?

Zero trust is obviously becoming more prevalent. It's getting better and better. It's still very young. There is a lot of work being done in terms of consolidation, and we've already mentioned two things that we're likely to see. Because organizations are suffering from a skill shortage all over, zero trust, will, and cyber security mesh will lead to more vendor consolidation.

How well is the UAE market prepared for the cyber security trends identified by Gartner?

UAE, in my opinion, is in a very good position. It will come down to very visible leadership and very clear expectations on the part of government departments, which will then trickle down and cascade to their vendors and suppliers.

How important it is for cybersecurity firms to adhere to Gartner's predictions?

It is less about how critical are those predictions because every organization is different. Your ability to achieve the technical security goals is attached to your zero trust, so all of them depend on where you are. You could already have zero trust in and it's just a matter of extending. You might have really poor security maturity because you haven't developed a strategy. Until you understand your risk posture until you understand your overall maturity, it's really difficult to make those informed decisions.