Cybersecurity is not a static world. You can say that it is a social system, it affects and is affected by its surrounding environment. For example, back in 2018, it was the GDPR that shook the foundations of security and privacy by making the protection of our personal data a fundamental human right. But that was then. What is shaping today’s cybersecurity?

This is the question that the Infosecurity Magazine State of Cybersecurity 2020 report investigates. And it is not surprising that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken by force not only the public health systems and the world economy but also the cybersecurity. It is the trend that has the most profound impact on this industry.

According to the report, the other top trends shaping the sector were the cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning, the human element, and phishing attacks.

Dan Raywood, the deputy editor of the Infosecurity Magazine and author of the report, said: “It’s always interesting to see how the trends form as we have more and more conversations, and it was clear this year that COVID-19 was going to be the dominant trend. Much like in 2018, when the introduction of GDPR was the dominant trend, I suspect that when we do this in 2021 COVID-19 will not be the main trend.”

The survey respondents this year include professionals from entrepreneurs and investors, practitioners, and education and academia. This allows greater visibility of the impact of different factors in different facets of the infosec industry. “We decided to do the research with clear verticals after a response to our 2019 report about the verticals we had surveyed. Last year we focused on cybersecurity practitioners and vendors, so this year we kept that vertical as well as including those teaching and learning about cybersecurity, (Read more...)