The Cyber Security Trends 2021

2020 was a year that no one would have expected and presented us all with unforeseen challenges.

Like many other areas, sectors and industries, international cyber security also faced new challenges.

A study conducted by ESG (Enterprise Strategy Group) last June found that cyberattacks on companies have increased since the start of the pandemic and that security vulnerabilities within companies have also increased due to the changed work situation (according to 47% and 36% of IT managers surveyed respectively). 36% of the IT managers surveyed).

As the pandemic will continue to accompany us this year and its effects will be felt, the question is As the pandemic will continue to accompany us this year and its effects will be felt, the question arises: What does this mean for the digital world in 2021?

What challenges and opportunities will emerge for cyber security?

We have taken a look into our crystal ball - filled with analyses and evaluations - and summarised the trends for 2021:‍

1. Changing security structures through hybrid working models

Many employers and employees have come to know and love the model of working from home, meaning that hybrid working models, at least, will continue to establish themselves in the future, giving employees the opportunity to work from home on a daily basis. This not only changes the location from which work is carried out, but also the underlying security structures. The physical separation means that certain security instances such as LAN networks are no longer required, so that the primary security device is now only the work laptop or the private end devices of the respective employee. This inevitably shifts the implementation of collaboration to cloud-based online systems, for which the implementation of separate security models, such as SASE (secure access service edge), is required. This will increase the competence requirements of the IT departments of many companies and continue to pose major challenges to ensure the security of sensitive data.

2. Preventive and relieving automations

In order to simultaneously reduce the workload for cyber security, improve the quality of work by reducing errors and increase the speed of identifying threats and vulnerabilities, automations will continue to play an increasingly relevant role this year. As fully efficient algorithms will only become established within the next few years, the first step will be to define various processes in which the respective workflows are precisely recorded in order to automate the analysis of threats and vulnerabilities. This will result in various opportunities, but also risks for companies that should not be underestimated. Overall, this trend is not only being driven by the change in workplace culture, but also by the ongoing high shortage of skilled workers in the field of cyber security.

3. Internal company threats and dangers

According to various studies, a company's own employees represent the greatest weak point or challenge for its IT security at around 74%. In view of the current and future situation - keyword home office - it is particularly important this year to inform employees as well as themselves about the sensitive handling of data and possible dangers, such as weak passwords, unauthorised access and the use of insecure networks, and to train them regularly. To illustrate this with figures, a representative study by Forrester Researchs predicts that the number of data breaches that can be directly attributed to internal vulnerabilities will increase from the current 25% to 33% this year.

4. Not the head, but the data in the cloud

As offices emptied and collaboration became increasingly digital, many companies began migrating their data to the cloud to enable them to continue working. With the ongoing pandemic and the shift to hybrid working models, this trend will continue in 2021. Cloud migrations do not only offer advantages. Unfortunately, they also harbour various IT security risks. Rushing through data migration can lead to misconfigurations, reduced control, weak applications and, in the worst case, complete data loss. If you want to find out more about this topic, download our white paper on cloud security here .

A look into our crystal ball shows that the coming year will once again harbour a number of challenges for IT security. Our advice to you: Try to define the trends and topics that are most relevant to you, think about the direction you want to take this year, which working methods you want or need to change and follow the development of the respective trends and technology. If you have any questions, contact us and work with us to define a customised security strategy for your company.

Keep yourself and your systems healthy.

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Sources:

https://www.esg-global.com/covid-19-impact

https://www.splunk.com/en_us/form/security-predictions.html

https://go.forrester.com/predictions/

https://info.bitsight.com/the-urgency-to-treat-cybersecurity-as-a-business-decision-ppc

https://threatpost.com/2021-cybersecurity-trends/162629/

https://www.stealthlabs.com/blog/top-10-cybersecurity-trends-in-2021-and-beyond/

https://www.it-daily.net/it-security/cloud-security/26408-it-security-trends-and-forecasts-for-2021

https://www.ninjarmm.com/de/blog/7-aufschlussreiche-cybersecurity-statistiken-die-jedes-kleine-unternehmen-in-2019-kennen-sollte/

The cyber security trends 2021