Page 75 - BusinessWest February 20, 2023

to penetrate 93% of company networks and gain access to local network resources.
Such breaches, obviously, affect personal data. In 2020 alone, data breaches exposed more than 37 billion personal records, 82% of which came from only five breaches, secu- rity.org notes. Data breaches affect not only companies and organizations, but also the people whose information is in the exposed records. And identity-fraud losses in 2020 cost its 49 million victims $56 billion in total, or roughly $1,100 per victim.
Clearly, the threat is real, and growing. Here are a few trends to consider when looking at the cybersecurity land- scape, and what tech media and organizations are saying about them.
Rising Threats, Rising Liability
With the rise in cybercrime has come increased risk for businesses, and that means a much larger cybersecurity sector. According to security.org, the global cyber insurance market was worth $7.8 billion in 2020 and is likely to grow into a $20 billion industry by 2025. About 75% of all cyber insurance premiums are for businesses, and the rest for indi- viduals. But that could be shifting as well.
So, too, is the responsibility companies bear for their own data security, Forbes projects. “Cyber insurance pre- miums are climbing, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for companies to afford or obtain coverage,” the publication notes. “To negotiate insurance premiums and better risk coverage, businesses will be required to present evidence across a broad spectrum of security areas in order to prove compliance with leading cybersecurity standards and best practices.”
Organizations will begin to conduct enterprise risk assessments that highlight the maturity level of their cyber- security program and proactively address any underwriting concerns, it continues, noting that risk assessments can help determine decisions around insurance gaps, limits, and
coverage.
As for those internal efforts, Forbes also notes that cyber-
security has become too complex for many organizations to manage on their own, and most companies don’t have the skills or resources to manage a full-fledged security opera- tions center (SOC). For these reasons, many businesses will be forced to think creatively and could decide to outsource their day-to-day security operations.
Locally, one such SOC is being developed at Springfield Union Station, part of a state- and federally funded project announced in November to establish a Cybersecurity Cen- ter of Excellence at the site, which will also include a ‘cyber range’ for training.
Mary Kaselouskas, vice president and chief information officer at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), which will manage the center, noted recently that “a lot of companies don’t have the resources for a fully operational SOC, or can even afford to have managed SOC operations,” so the need for a local SOC is clear.
Zero Trust on the Rise
One way businesses are increasingly curtailing cyber threats is through a concept called ‘zero trust.’
According to IBM, the idea, developed by John Kindervag in 2010 while a principal analyst at Forrester Research, is
a broad framework that promises effective protection of an organization’s most valuable assets. It works by assuming every connection and endpoint is considered a threat.
Essentially, a zero-trust network logs and inspects all corporate network traffic, limits and controls access to the network, and verifies and secures network resources. A zero- trust security model ensures data and resources are inacces- sible by default, and users can only access them on a limited basis under the right circumstances, known as least-privilege access. The strategy also authenticates and authorizes every device, network flow, and connection.
“As hybrid work became a way of life, more organizations
“Cyber insurance premiums are climbing, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for companies to afford or obtain coverage.”
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