Five Cybersecurity Predictions for 2019

2018 was another year of change in the cybersecurity industry. We’ve had some interesting conversations with customers, partners, providers, and analysts over the past twelve months, and we’re excited about where the industry is headed – at least from our vantage point.

We are all seeing the 2019 prediction stories, and many of the broader trends focus on endpoint security and the impact of staff shortages, to name a few.  

Here is what we anticipate in 2019:

• GDPR Non-Compliance – In 2019 – the first year of a new compliance standard with significant penalties – some organizations will choose not to be GDPR compliant, deciding that paying a fine or dealing with a lawsuit is easier than trying to comply with an ambiguous and undefined standard. A November 29 story in Fortune Magazine stated “There have been mostly minor enforcement actions under the new regulation. Facebook, Google, and Twitter are under investigation for alleged infractions, but multibillion-dollar fines have yet to be levied.”

• Cryptojacking Moves to #1 – Cryptojacking will pass ransomware in 2019 as the premier malware threat as hackers look for ways to get closer to the money with minimum effort to monetize attacks. A recent report from Kaspersky Lab stated that there was a 400% increase in cryptojacking related cases in 2018.

• Organizational Shift – CISOs and security departments will move from reporting into IT to finance or legal, reflecting the shift from a technology focus to risk. This is a result of executive teams and Board members realizing the importance of cybersecurity to the entire organization (e.g., operations, financials/stock, brand, etc.).  A December 2018 story in IT Pro Portal stated “…When it comes to placing your CISO below the chief financial officer (CFO), the most significant benefit is that it means the CISO has some serious sway when it comes to getting financial backing from the board.”

• Platform Consolidation – We will see a consolidated platform from a single vendor actually work in cybersecurity in 2019. In Dec. 26, 2018 story in Dark Reading, Jeff Pollard, Forrester vice president and principal analyst serving security and risk professionals, stated that he expects “a wave of innovation and consolidation” as startups founded to build specific solutions see their technologies integrated into broader platforms.

• AI and ML Finally Get Real – Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will finally find a truly useful purpose in cybersecurity this year and will move past the “marketing hype” phase. You will see real-world, practical applications and use cases of AI and ML, beyond PowerPoint slides. The future does look promising – according to a survey by PwC, 46 percent of business executives say they use AI to manage risk, fraud and cybersecurity threats.

What do you think – agree or disagree? Do you have thoughts or predictions of your own? If so, let us know. We plan to follow these predictions throughout the year to track the impact of our predictions

Best of luck to all in 2019!

by Randy Watkins | CTO, CRITICALSTART
and Jordan Mauriello | VP of Managed Services, CRITICALSTART

January 16, 2019