As our world becomes increasingly digital, organizations are expanding their digital assets in order to better serve their customers and employees. While this shift has brought many benefits, it has also created new challenges in terms of cybersecurity. Fortunately, governments and companies are beginning to recognize the importance of investing in cyber security. The United States’ Department of Homeland Security, for example, requested 2.6 billion US dollars for its 2022 cyber security budget. This is a positive step towards protecting our digital world from the growing threat of cybercrime.
And as the cybersecurity landscape takes shape, there will always be interesting developments worth taking note of. This is what this report seeks to achieve, helping you appreciate the true role of cybersecurity and place you in a better position to make sense of where things are and where the industry is generally headed.
In this report, read about:
- Global Market Outlook
- The Trends
- The Leaders
- Startups to watch
- Looking Forward
Global Market Outlook
According to Fortune Business Insights, the global cyber security market is projected to grow from USD 155.83 billion in 2022 to USD 376.32 billion by 2029 – a 13.4% CAGR. The increasing number of cyber-attacks and the growing concerns over data privacy are some of the major factors driving the growth of the market. In addition, the rapid adoption of emerging tech such as cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT), are creating new opportunities for cyber criminals.
As a result, organizations are investing heavily in cyber security solutions to protect their data and systems. North America is expected to hold a significant share of the market due to the presence of a large number of leading companies in the region. In addition, the region is home to some of the world’s most technologically advanced countries, which are rapidly adopting new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve their cyber security posture. However, Asia-Pacific is also expected to witness high growth due to the increasing awareness about cyber security threats and the growing number of heavy tech consumption in the region.
Impact of COVID-19 on global cybersecurity
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on global cybersecurity. Here are some of the top ways the pandemic affected the global cybersecurity sphere:
1. Remote working
The sudden shift to remote work created new challenges for security teams, who must now protect a larger and more distributed network. With so many people now working from home, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of cyber attacks targeting home workers. In particular, there has been a sharp rise in phishing attacks and scams targeting remote workers
2. Accelerated digital transformation
Organizations have been forced to move more of their operations online, which has created new opportunities for cybercriminals.The increase in online activity has led to a surge in cyberattacks. These attacks range from phishing scams targeting employees to ransomware attacks against businesses.
3. Increasing use of cloud-based services
As businesses have switched to remote working, they have relied increasingly on cloud-based applications and services. This shift to the cloud has made businesses more vulnerable to cyber attacks, as hackers have targeted cloud-based systems in order to steal sensitive data among other crimes.
4. Cyber attacks on healthcare organizations
Hackers are taking advantage of the fact that many healthcare organizations experienced immense pressure due to the pandemic, and used this as an opportunity to launch cyber attacks. In particular, a rise in ransomware attacks was witnessed, which can have devastating consequences for healthcare organizations.
5. Shortage of cybersecurity professionals
The COVID-19 pandemic also resulted in a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. As businesses increased their investment in cybersecurity, there has been a corresponding increase in demand for cybersecurity professionals. However, the supply of cybersecurity professionals has not increased at the same rate, leading to a shortage of skilled cyber security workers. This shortage has made it difficult for businesses to adequately protect themselves from cyber attacks.
6. Global cooperation
The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of global cooperation when it comes to cybersecurity. It is essential now that different countries share information about cyber threats. This sharing of information can help to create a better understanding of the evolving threat landscape and allow for more effective responses to attacks.
7. Increasing use of personal devices
While this trend offers many benefits, it also creates new security risks. By allowing employees to use their own devices for work, also known as shadow IT, businesses open themselves up to the possibility of data leaks and other security breaches. In addition, it can be difficult to manage and monitor employee devices, making it hard to ensure that they are being used safely. This calls for the implementation of strict shadow IT policies.
The Top 10 Cybersecurity Trends that Shaped 2022 (And How)
As technology advances and cyber threats become more complex, organizations must stay ahead of the latest trends in order to protect themselves from cyberattacks. So, what are these disruptive trends and how do they impact our response to cyber threats? Let’s delve into the top cybersecurity trends that are defining cybersecurity.
1. Cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA)
CSCA is a modern approach to cybersecurity that allows organizations to implement and integrate various security assets, whether in the cloud, on-premises, or data centers. Through this architecture, businesses can use multiple security solutions from different vendors to create a collaborative ecosystem that effectively achieves their security goals.
According to Gartner, organizations that adopt CSMA by 2024 will lower cybersecurity incidents’ financial impact by about 90 percent. Implementing this architecture involves identifying the attack surfaces and using a centralized, multi-faceted approach to protect all digital assets.
Cybersecurity mesh architecture has four layers:
- Security analytics and intelligence: Deals with collecting, consolidating, and analyzing massive amounts of data in real time.
- Distributed identity fabric: Provides directory services, identity proofing and management, adaptive access, and entitlement management.
- Consolidated posture and policy management: Converts central policies into individual and advanced security tools to effectively identify misconfiguration issues and compliance risks.
- Consolidated dashboards: Offers a comprehensive view of the cybersecurity ecosystem.
2. Security consolidation
In the past, organizations built their cybersecurity architectures using multiple standalone solutions that addressed specific security risks. This approach created a complicated security architecture that often overwhelmed security experts with alerts. Furthermore, the architecture wasn’t effective in monitoring and managing the different solutions, thus causing security gaps and inefficiencies due to overlapping technologies.
Security consolidation enables organizations to implement multiple security solutions created by a single or multiple vendors. The vendors introduce licensing and pricing options on different packaged solutions.
Consolidated security solutions offer greater efficiency, improve visibility, reduce complexity, and minimize the total cost of ownership (TCO). However, such solutions may bring new challenges, such as possible single points of failure and reduced negotiating power.
3. Skills gap
One of the biggest challenges in cybersecurity is the skills shortage. A Cyber Workforce Report by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium, or (ISC)², reveals that businesses are reporting a skills shortage in their cyber security needs. About 60% of respondents identified this as a bug challenge that is putting their organizations at risk.
4. Increase in managed services
Managed services are becoming more popular as organizations seek comprehensive security services that in-house resources cannot afford. Some of the services include:
- Managed detection and response (MDR)
- Cloud Network as a Service (CNaaS)
- Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs)
- Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)
- VPN as a Service (VPNaaS)
Managed services also offer additional capabilities such as lower TCO, greater scalability, and professionally configured and managed systems, which are more challenging to achieve internally.
5. IoT vulnerabilities
IoT is a growing technology that allows billions of smart devices to collect and share data over the internet.According to Statista, the number of connected devices will grow by 18 percent and reach 30.9 billion by 2025.
As the number of interconnected devices increases, IoT vulnerabilities also rise. If a single device is hacked, it could compromise all the information in that network. Cybercriminals are continuously finding new gateways for stealing this kind of data.
6. Multi-factor authentication
The global IT industry has been reluctant to adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA). However, many companies, especially in the financial sector, have implemented and made MFA compulsory for all users. Other companies, such as email services and social media platforms, have incorporated MFA as an optional security feature.
Multi-factor authentication prevents unauthorized access by adding another security layer. MFA has also helped companies to control access and protect their employees’ data. These companies combine passwords and MFA to restrict access and ensure that only authorized employees can access their systems. This security feature requires every person who logs in to enter a verification code sent to their registered phone number.
7. Increased ransomware attacks
A study has revealed that there were over 236 million ransomware attacks globally in the first half of 2022. In such attacks, cybercriminals hold your data until you pay the demanded amount.
The worst thing is that you might never get your data back, even after paying the ransom.
8. Geo-targeted phishing attacks
The recent past has seen a rise in the frequency and severity of phishing attacks. These attacks are currently among the biggest threats in the IT industry. Attackers use elaborate schemes to ensure that their phishing emails or messages look as authentic as possible.
There is also Phishing as a service (PhaaS), which has made cybercrime more accessible. It is a black-market industry technique that enables cybercriminals to sell phishing knowledge and tools over the dark web. Cybercriminals use geo-locations to develop custom phishing emails and websites to target victims in specific regions.
9. Hybrid data centers
Cloud-based and on-premises data centers offer invaluable benefits to organizations. On-premises data centers offer more control over applications and data, while cloud-based data centers provide scalability and flexibility. However, each of these models also has its drawbacks.
Hybrid data centers combine cloud-based and on-premises infrastructures, allowing organizations to take full advantage of both environments. However, a hybrid data center requires a comprehensive cybersecurity solution that covers cloud and on-premise infrastructures. This can prove expensive, especially for small and medium businesses .
10. The use of artificial intelligence in cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence (AI) simulates human intelligence and has enormous potential in cybersecurity. AI systems can help in foreseeing dangers. Such systems can generate threat alerts, identify new malware, and protect sensitive data.
Furthermore, AI can effectively automate cybersecurity processes. Cybersecurity systems generate hundreds of thousands of alerts daily. Dealing with such a volume of alerts is challenging to the already few cybersecurity experts. AI helps in coping with low-risk alerts.
11. Cybersecurity regulations get more strict
Many governments and organizations are revising their cybersecurity regulations and policies as the world moves towards remote and hybrid workstations. Decentralization of data access comes with more security challenges. Thus, regulatory organizations have to develop more strict regulations.
For instance, it is compulsory to put in place a security awareness training program under the General Data Protection Regulatory (GDPR).
12. Zero Trust
Zero Trust is an emerging cybersecurity approach that assumes hackers whether internal or external are already present in a system, rather than the network being “trusted” unless proved otherwise. As such, all traffic should be treated as untrusted and subjected to rigorous authentication and authorization checks. IBM has been a driving force behind the adoption of Zero Trust, developing a range of products and services that help organizations implement this security approach. In addition, IBM has published extensive guidance on Zero Trust, helping organizations to understand and realize the benefits of this approach.
Zero Trust is built on the premise that all devices and networks are potentially vulnerable to attack, regardless of their location or association with an enterprise.
The Leaders
This section covers some of the notable leaders in the cybersecurity landscape, offering high end solutions that are helping organizations to keep their systems secure.
You’ll notice that most of the world’s tech giants are also giants in cybersecurity, a clear indication that cybersecurity is such a huge play field.
1. Microsoft
Microsoft provides a comprehensive range of cybersecurity services. These services work together to provide a layered defense that is effective against a wide range of threats. Let’s take a look at a couple of these services.
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a cloud-based service that provides real-time protection against malware and other threats.
- Microsoft Defender Cloud Security Posture Management helps you to secure your Azure environment by identifying and remedying security issues.
- Defender for DevOps helps you to secure your development process by providing visibility into vulnerabilities and offering automated remediation.
- External Attack Surface Management helps you to reduce the attack surface of your organization by identifying and managing external access to your systems.
- Azure Firewall is a cloud-based service that provides network security and prevents attacks with firewall rules.
- Azure Web App Firewall protects your web applications from common exploits and attacks.
- Azure DDoS Protection protects your Azure resources from Distributed Denial of Service attacks.
- GitHub Advanced Security provides static code analysis and security alerts for your repositories.
These services work together to provide a comprehensive cyber security solution for organizations of all sizes.
2. IBM
IBM security offers a comprehensive suite of solutions that can help organizations to protect their data and systems from attack. From managed security services to threat intelligence and incident response, IBM has the tools and expertise to help businesses keep their critical information safe. In addition, IBM also offers a range of consulting services that can help organizations to assess their risks and develop comprehensive security strategies. With a deep understanding of cyber security threats and trends, IBM can help businesses to stay one step ahead of the criminals.
A popular product by IBM is the X-Force Command Center, which provides two core products i.e simulations and collaboration. The simulation part is an interactive, simulated cyber incident response experience that allows you to put your entire cross-functional fusion team through its paces in a high-pressure, immersive environment. The goal is to provide a realistic, gamified experience that will help your team members hone their skills and understand the importance of collaboration in dealing with a major security breach. At the end of the simulation, your team will have a better understanding of the steps involved in managing a cyber incident, as well as the importance of working together to respond to an event.
The collaboration element opens organizations to a world of diverse collaboration with analysts, legal experts, PR teams, as well as cyber investigative tools.
IBM is also one of the world’s leading advocates for Zero Trust.
3. Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cisco Systems’ products and services help to protect businesses and individuals from online threats. Cisco offers a wide range of solutions, including firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and malware protection. In addition, they offer consulting and training services to help organizations implement and maintain effective security measures. Cisco is constantly innovating their offerings to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of cyber security.
Some of Cisco’s security solutions include Cisco Secure Endpoint, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Meraki vMX100, Cisco Secure Cloud Analytics, and Cisco Umbrella among others.
4. Oracle
Oracle Corporation is a top provider of cyber security solutions in the world. Their products are used by some of the largest companies in the world to protect their data and networks from cyber attacks. Oracle’s products are effective at detecting and preventing attacks, and they also provide a robust set of tools for response and recovery.
In addition to their products, Oracle also offers a variety of services to help organizations secure their data and networks. These services include training, consulting, and managed security services. Oracle has a team of highly skilled security experts who are constantly innovating new ways to protect data and networks.
5. Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks is a dedicated cybersecurity company that enables enterprises, service providers, and governments to secure their networks from cyber attacks. The company offers a wide range of security products and services that provide protection from known and unknown threats, including country-specific Threat Prevention solutions.
Palo Alto Networks also offers technology services that help organizations implement and operate their security infrastructure. In addition, the company provides training and certification programs that help customers stay up-to-date on the latest security threats and how to protect against them. Palo Alto Networks is committed to helping its customers stay one step ahead of the ever-changing landscape of cyber security threats.
Key products include cloud security, automation solutions for security operations, zero-day threat solutions, hybrid workforce security, and threat intelligence.
Startups to watch
As the concept of cyber security becomes more entrenched, disruptive startups are emerging. These companies are developing innovative solutions to complex cyber threats, and they are in a unique position to capitalize on the growing demand for security products and services. Here is a look at some of the startups.
Please note this is not an exhaustive list , and only serves as an inspirational highlight of what some of the most ambitious cyber security startups are up to.
1. Concourse Labs
Concourse Labs provides a single platform that enables security teams to see and manage cloud risk while also giving developers the tools they need to deliver secure and compliant releases. The platform provides an authoritative system of record of risk posture and compliance, allowing organizations to quickly identify and address potential issues. Concourse Labs is designed to be easily integrated into existing workflows, making it possible for organizations to adopt it without disrupting their existing processes.
In 2022, Enterprise Security Tech, a specialized cyber media company named Concourse Labs among notable mentions in the Enterprise Security Tech Cyber Top 20 List. In 2021, Gartner® named Concourse Labs a Cool Vendor in Cloud Computing. In 2021, the startup joined the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). These are just some of the highlights that demonstrate the steady progress the company is making.
2. Lightspin
Lightspin is a cloud security platform that uses agentless graph-based technology to visualize, prioritize, and remediate cloud risks with. No custom configuration is needed. The platform offers real-time visibility into an organization’s cloud environment and analyzes data flows to identify risks and vulnerabilities. It then prioritizes these risks and provides guidance on how to remediate them. Lightspin’s unique approach to cloud security enables organizations to quickly and efficiently mitigate risks, without the need for complex and time-consuming configurations.
3. Huntress
Huntress is a managed cybersecurity platform designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It offers a suite of endpoint detection and response capabilities, including real-time threat detection, malware removal, and web filtering.
4 .XM Cyber
XM Cyber‘s Attack Path Management solution enables organizations to continuously see their hybrid network through the attackers’ eyes and get to spot attacks before they happen. As a result, businesses can reduce the risk of exposure by uncovering hidden attack paths and security control gaps across their network. In addition, XM Cyber’s solutions help organizations to comply with industry regulations such as PCI DSS and HIPAA.
5 . ArmorCode
ArmorCode considers itself the industry-leading application security platform. It helps customers reduce application exposure and risk with AppSec Posture, Vulnerability, and Compliance Management. Additionally, it provides DevSecOps automation to help organizations secure their applications and infrastructure. ArmorCode is easy to use and provides a unified view of an organization’s application security posture. It also integrates with popular DevOps tools and processes, making it easy to implement in any organization.
Notable Recent Incidents
Multiple cyber attack incidents took place across 2022, so many that it would be impossible to exhaust them all in a single report. Here are some of the highlights:
| Month | Victim | Incident |
| Dec | RackSpace | A ransomware attack targeted the Exchange Environment |
| Nov | Danish State Railway | Hackers inflicted havoc on the network after they targeted a software testing environment belonging to an IT subcontractor. |
| Nov | Vanuatu Government | Hackers shut down the systems of the Vanuatu Government, leading to the collapse of all associated services such as email and websites. |
| Nov | Dropbox | A phishing assault directed at some of the code that the company keeps on GitHub. |
| Oct | Binance | $570 Million worth of Binance Coin was stolen after hackers exploited the BSC Token Hub cross-chain bridge. |
Looking Forward
It’s clear that organizations need to remain vigilant and continue to stay abreast of the ever-evolving threat landscape. Security teams must be prepared to adopt new technologies and practices that will help protect against malicious actors attempting to exploit existing weaknesses in their infrastructure. Companies should also strive to stay on top of mitigating any potential vulnerabilities with regular testing and updating of their systems, as well as integrating vulnerability assessment into other security processes for comprehensive protection.
According to Mackensey, there are three key trends that organizations should take into account as they set up their defenses going forward. These are:
Trend 1: On-demand access to data and information platforms
Suggested responses:
- Zero-trust
- Behavioral analytics
- Elastic log monitoring
- Homomorphic encryption
Trend 2: Growing use of AI and ML by cyber criminals
Suggested responses:
- Automated defense
- Defensive AI and machine learning
- Technical and organizational responses to ransomware
Trend 3: Intense regulations coupled with gaps in resources and talent can overwhelm cybersecurity
Suggested responses:
- Embedding security in software development
- Utilizing X as a service
- Infrastructure and security as code
- Software bill of materials
Check out the entire Mckensey article
Meanwhile more governments are appreciating the growing need for more attention to cyber security. Already the compliance regulations at organizational level are quite established especially across Europe and North America. The rest of the world is not far behind. Now, there is a trend where governments are also moving to the professional space. For example, the UK government has launched a pilot Professional Titles Register program to mainstream professional titles for cybersecurity.
Conclusion
An article by McKinsey & Company has highlighted that the overall damage from cyberattacks could likely reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, which is equivalent to an increase of 300% when compared to the levels in 2015. This does not include the indirect costs associated with cyberattacks, such as business interruption, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust. It’s such stack realities that are pushing innovation in the industry, which is a good thing.
In conclusion, the world of cybersecurity is constantly evolving and organizations need to stay informed about the latest trends and developments in order to ensure their digital assets remain secure. From embracing automation technologies to leveraging big data analytics, 2021 saw some major changes in the ways businesses and individuals approach data security. By understanding these trends and how they are shaping our digital world, companies can better prepare themselves for future cyber threats and minimize the risk of a successful attack.
Transparency Note: No company in this article has paid to be featured in this report. Each company is here by merit based on intense research by Teqnamo.
