By 2030, there will be a complex global network of 200 billion devices, with over 20 connected devices per human. And that’s going to mean a heck of a lot of both Cybersecurity and privacy challenges.
The data – and the warning – come from number-crunchers Frost & Sullivan, who are cautioning us that as the Internet of Things landscape starts to expand beyond the traditional network in use today, there will be also be an increase in the complexity of both those sorts of challenges.
As a result, it warns in its new report The Future of Privacy and Cybersecurity, “the market will experience deeper synergies among data protection, security, privacy, and public good as more international frameworks are developed to govern the Internet”.
To maximise their opportunities in the face of these market market shifts, the study, which maps out trends over the immediate next decade, recommends that Cybersecurity vendors should:
- invest in/partner with startups offering technological innovations (Blockchain, AI) at the core
- adopt an enterprise-wide cyber defense strategy rather than a dedicated Cybersecurity unit
- invest in a creative, “cyber-human” workforce with the flexibility to deal with the evolving nature of threats
- allocate dedicated budgets for post-breach response solutions and recovery mechanisms
- consider integrating solutions offering end-to-end security built into the system rather than “bolt-on” security features.
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) will emerge as the new frontier of privacy and Cybersecurity, as enterprises explore new opportunities and train a capable workforce to identify critical threats, respond faster to breaches, and learn from them,” said Vinay Venkatesan, Visionary Innovation Research Consultant at the group.
“In addition to AI, data de-identification, advanced authentication and encryption, biometrics, Blockchain, automation, and quantum computing also will have the potential to transform privacy and cybersecurity.
“Additionally, boundaries between work and home continue to blur, as we’re experiencing right now. This means every connected device in a smart home, enterprise or city will be a potential access point to our most sensitive and personal data, making mass non-consensual data collection feasible and cybersecurity all the more vital.”
Venkatesan predicts there will be more than 26 smart cities by 2025, most of them in North America and Europe.
