The Bible on Cybersecurity is Here: Everything You Need to Know
1. Give us the top 5 happenings in cybersecurity everyone should know about
No. 1 - The biggest happening is the global cybercrime epidemic expected to cost the world $6 trillion in damages annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. While this is not necessarily a 'moment', it is monumental. Without cybercrime, there would be no cybersecurity industry. To that point, I couldn't really offer 5 'moments' because they are just that. And there's no one or few moments that really tell the story as much as these five trends I can offer.
No. 2 - In response to No. 1, there is a huge uptick in global spending on cybersecurity products and services (in order to combat cybercrime), which we predict will exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next 5 years
No. 3 - The global (digital) cyberattack surface will grow by 50X over the next 5 years. And the number of online users will double from 2+ billion now to 4+ billion by 2021. Like street crime, which historically grew in relation to population growth, we are seeing the same thing with cybercrime. It’s not just about more sophisticated weaponry, it's as much about the growing number of digital targets.
No. 4 - There's a severe cybersecurity workforce shortage. We predict there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2021. Security is a people problem. People are committing the cybercrimes. And we need qualified people to pursue and catch the perpetrators. Technology is essential and we are making a lot of progress there, but without a sufficient army of white hats (good guys) to go up against the growing army of black hats (bad guys), we will not be able to bring down the cybercrime rate.
No. 5 - There's an explosion of IoT devices - ranging from 100 to 200 billion internet connected devices by 2021 - depending on which reports you look at. There are so many devices it's hard to calculate. Our entire society, the Planet Earth, is connecting up to the internet - people, places, and things. The rate of internet connection is outpacing our ability to properly secure it.
2. What are the top 5 global companies doing the most cutting edge work in cybersecurity?
IBM Security has a 2 billion dollar cybersecurity business, one of the largest in the world. While they are doing a lot of cutting edge work in the field, the most exciting is cognitive security and what they are doing with Watson.
Cisco also has a 2 billion dollar cybersecurity business. They too are doing a lot of cutting edge work. They probably understand IoT security better than anyone, and doing a lot of innovative work in that area - which is essential for our industry.
Raytheon Cyber is a massive cybersecurity business as well. They are focused on protecting governments (U.S. and other) from hostile nation states and cyberattacks. They were just awarded a historic 5 year $1 billion contract from the US DHS - Department of Homeland Security.
Palo Alto Networks (PAN), a major security vendor, announced a ground breaking partnership with the Girl Scouts of USA. Together, they will be offering cybersecurity programs and badges to K-12 girls in the U.S. There's around 1.8 million girls who are members of the Girl Scouts. PAN has recognized that the key to filling the cybersecurity talent void is targeting and teaching our young people - and they are doing something (big) about it.
Symantec has created the world's largest security software company. They have divested themselves of anything non-cybersecurity and turned into a pure play security company. They are making strategic acquisitions and setting the tone for more security unicorns to follow. There's about a dozen $1 billion cybersecurity companies who have the potential to follow Symantec and grow via acquisitions.
3. In your opinion, what are the top 3 countries that will be most disrupted by cyberthreats?
You can read various reports and get differing opinions on this. But what you'll see is that over the next 5 years the countries at the greatest risk will be those with the largest populations -- China, India, U.S., followed by Russia, etc. These nations will be connecting the largest numbers of new users to the internet, and expanding their cyberattack surfaces proportionately.
4. Silicon Valley vs Israel: Which cybersecurity startups are bound to come up with the most disruptive cybersecuriy technology?
Both Silicon Valley and Israel. Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, Calif. (Silicon Valley) is the financial capital and epicenter of the cybersecurity industry. The bulk of venture capital flows from there, which accounts for the disproportionately high number of cybersecurity startups there. Israel is the world's no. 2 exporter of cybersecurity technology (behind the U.S.). They have been innovators and pioneers in cybersecurity for the past two decades, and they remain leaders today.
