Tenable's technology experts provide comments on the topics that they believe will shape the IT security market in 2021.
From makeshift solutions to scalable home office strategies
Bob Huber, CSO: “During the global pandemic, the CSO's role in protecting the corporate network shifted from sprint to marathon. Many companies will continue to work remotely in 2021. This presents CSOs with the challenge of maintaining security in these highly dynamic and distributed environments. The initial workarounds are then replaced with scalable, long-term strategies that enable risk-based decision making.
A COVID crash course in all technical & cyber matters
Renaud Deraison, CTO and Co-Founder: “Generation Z and Alpha are arguably the most tech-savvy of any generation before them. Ninety-five percent of 13-17 year olds have access to a smartphone, and 51% of Generation Alpha want a job that allows them to use technology. Many of them grew up with the latest and greatest technology. I suspect that the virtual crash course in all things technology caused by the pandemic will produce a cyber-savvy generation that will understand and appreciate technology on a deeper level. The coming year will offer new technologies that will have a significant impact on the future of work and hopefully create opportunities that are currently lacking.
We should therefore bring IT security into the classroom as early as possible. This not only means that cybersecurity is accessible to all students, but that we actively encourage boys and girls from all walks of life to get involved in this area. Tomorrow's security challenges cannot be solved in a vacuum. They cannot be effectively addressed without the necessary expertise and experience”.
5G: enormous possibilities and range - also for hackers
Glen Pendley, Deputy CTO: “In 2021, 5G will offer tremendous opportunities, both through the introduction of new technologies to connect with each other and increased standards for protecting distributed infrastructures. Once 5G is ubiquitous, hackers will be wide open, and both white hat and black hat hackers will quickly learn how to navigate the mass adoption and interconnectivity of 5G. The tremendous speed and reach will connect organizations more than ever before, but it makes successful attacks even more dangerous.”
“In the new year, 5G will revolutionize the entire IT security. More devices than ever before will be online and the convergence between IT and OT will also continue. To prevent attackers from exploiting this situation, the industry must learn lessons from cloud adoption and accept shared responsibility for these risks. With data constantly flowing through a potentially vulnerable 5G infrastructure, a holistic security approach is needed to close these emerging security gaps. Therefore, to combat the new and emerging threats, users and service providers must work together, prioritize security measures and build an ecosystem of trusted providers”.
“Given the cybersecurity workforce shortage and the increasing volume of cyberattacks worldwide, it is becoming more and more important to cover cybersecurity education more frequently and with better quality. Many vulnerabilities and thus cyber attacks are the result of insecure codes. These attacks could easily be avoided if programmer education had a greater focus on security, and demanded secure code throughout software development.”
IT and OT continue to grow together
Barak Perelman, Vice President OT Security: “In the future, there will be no OT without IT, and protecting these converged environments is critical. In 2021, IT security and OT security will grow even closer together - whether this is intentional or accidental. Unfortunately, many companies will rudely realize that their OT is no longer completely sealed off as cybercriminals constantly look for new attack vectors. IT is increasingly a gateway for attacks on sensitive OT environments and vice versa”.
More about this at tenable.com
About Tenable Tenable is a Cyber Exposure company. Over 24.000 companies worldwide trust Tenable to understand and reduce cyber risk. Nessus inventors have combined their vulnerability expertise in Tenable.io, delivering the industry's first platform that provides real-time visibility into and secures any asset on any computing platform. Tenable's customer base includes 53 percent of the Fortune 500, 29 percent of the Global 2000, and large government agencies.