In 2023, What Trends Will Dominate Cybersecurity?

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2022 has been quite the year in cybersecurity. For the first time in a long while, I’m seeing positive developments in the space, including improved cybersecurity education for end-users and adoption of IT Security protection by smaller organizations.

As a Cybersecurity Evangelist, education is extremely important to me. So I’ve combined my 2023 cybersecurity predictions with practical resources that you can review now to improve your cyber preparedness.

Cybersecurity as More than a Budgetary Line-Item

Let’s begin with the good news: Cybersecurity is finally being viewed as a strategic investment rather than an optional budgetary line-item. Organizations can reduce downtime and enhance employee productivity in the new year by practicing effective cybersecurity practices, such as restricting users’ access to data on a “business need to know” basis, maximizing endpoint security, and implementing ongoing, company-wide cybersecurity training.

To learn how you can prioritize cybersecurity at your organization by making it a team sport, watch my recent webinar with Curt De Greff, Senior VP and CFO of the Parkinson's Foundation.

Incident Response Plans Will Become Mission-Critical

As we have seen over the past few years, major data breaches and ransomware attacks have had a profound impact on organizations of all shapes and sizes, including financial implications and brand reputational damage. Since the easiest way to prevent your company from being impacted by a cyberattack is to avoid being a victim in the first place, incident response plans will become mission-critical for organizations in 2023. For maximum effectiveness, companies must keep incident response plans up to date and regularly refine their capabilities via tabletop exercises.

If you’re looking to create or update an incident response plan at your company, read my popular blog for eight essential elements of an effective plan.

Cyber Insurance Premium Management Will Be Top of Mind

Even though pricing in the cyber insurance market has begun to stabilize, cyber insurance premium management will continue to be top of mind for organizations in 2023. Many companies do not understand that cyber insurance premiums are more manageable for those that prioritize cybersecurity. By following IT Security best practices like establishing data governance controls and maintaining regular system updates, organizations like yours can be well-positioned for the policy renewal process.

In our recent webinar, I explored cyber insurance trends with Lynn Ambrose, VP of Executive Risk and Cyber Team Lead at The Plexus Groupe, and I encourage you to take a listen.

Cyberattackers Will Revert to Traditional Extortion Methods

Over the past several years, cyberattackers have resorted to cryptocurrency as their ransomware payment of choice. Given the current state of the crypto market, I expect these perpetrators to revert to more traditional ways of extorting money in 2023. It’s important for organizations to remember that despite the payment method, negotiation with a cybercriminal is not a traditional business transaction. For example, there is a chance you will not regain access to all of your files despite making the ransom payment.

For five ways that ransomware can negatively impact your business, read my classic blog.

SMBs Will (Re) Prioritize Cybersecurity

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will focus much more strongly on cybersecurity in the new year. According to Egnyte’s 2022 Cybersecurity Trends Report, only 64% of mid-sized companies had a formal incident response plan in place. Without such a plan, companies are extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks like hacking and ransomware, and recovery takes much longer. By making cybersecurity a must-have rather than a nice-to-have, SMBs can stay one step ahead of rapidly-evolving threats like ransomware.

My recent article outlines practical recommendations that SMBs can leverage to improve data security.

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