Cyber Security 2017 - What Lies Ahead

We have long preached that today, every business is a technology business. What business functions without computers, Microsoft Office software, or email? Because of the universality of technology, cyber crime is on the rise and the cyber criminal has become more creative and yet, at the same time, the “field” has become more enticing to amateurs, creating still more chaos. Below are some of the things we need to be aware of going forward.

PLEASE NOTE: We will be presenting a complimentary webinar on Cyber Security 2017 – SMBs are under attack. Are you prepared? Thursday, February 2^nd at 11 AM. Register at www.DynaSis.com/webinars.

1: The cost of cyber-crime is expected to hit $6,000,000,000,000  (yes, that’s trillion) annually over the next few years. This is double current loss estimates and includes the cost of the damage and/or destruction of data, stolen funds, decreased productivity, intellectual property theft, personal financial data, embezzlement, fraud, business disruption, forensic investigation, harm to reputations, and finally, the deletion of damaged data and restoration of backed up files…assuming they have not been harmed as well.

2: Spending on Cyber Security will grow to more than $1,000,000,000.

3: There will be 1,500,000 unfilled Cyber Security jobs by 2019. By the end of last year, there were already 1,000,000 unfilled positions, and this will just keep growing. Currently, the unemployment rate among cyber security professionals is 0%.

4: 91% of cyber attacks today start through email. Most employees of small to mid-sized businesses are not trained in cyber security best practices…or any practices at all, which make them rich targets. It is attacks like this that have started with a careless employee of a small business, then evolved into an attack on the business itself, and ultimately, by gaining access to the company’s links to its customers, have been able to infiltrate into the records of major businesses, such as Target and Home Depot.

5: By 2014 (the last full year for which we have stats), 71% of cyber crimes were against SMBs, up from 41% just the year before.

6: Access by amateur cyber-criminals. The kid next door can now go online and for as little as $150 dollars buy a “kit” that enables him to encrypt the files of a small business and hold them for ransom. If he does this 10 times for $5,000 per ransom, he just made himself $50,000. But as an amateur, he may not fully understand how to use the illegal software he just purchased and may not be able to unlock the files he encrypted. We know of just such a case where the small business agreed to pay a ransom of $8,000 only to learn that the incompetent thief couldn't deliver on his promise to decrypt, and they have lost all their files forever. ALL their files, including all their backups. All their trade secrets, legal and financial information, client records, etc.

7: By 2020, just three years from now, there will be as many as 200,000,000,000 IoT (Internet of Things) devices in dire need of securing. What is the Internet of Things? Simply put, it is “things” that are connected to the Internet: cellphones, coffee makers, Alexa, wearable devices like FitBits, door locks, garage door openers, jet engine parts that signal potential problems back to the manufacturer, and on and on and on. 200 billion of these in just three years. Look for another blog soon going into detail on this subject, but we think you can imagine the potential magnitude of the problem.

DynaSis has been at the forefront of Cyber Security Management for SMBs on a national level since 1992, and is responsible for a number of advances in the field that are currently in use across the country. Please visit www.DynaSis.com/managed-security or call us at 678.373.0716.