EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is well documented globally . Businesses around the world are pressured to do more with less which in turn will drive the consolidation of multiple security solutions .
New technologies are encouraging a decentralised distributed architecture across multiple third-party service providers .
The growing remote workforce expands the available attack surface for cybercriminals , as users are connecting through insecure networks .
A recent hack on a top cybersecurity firm resulted in the theft of critical security tools . This brazen act will encourage more direct attacks on cybersecurity service providers and vendors in 2021 .
Attackers are aware every organisation has a weak link , even if it happens to be from a third-party . The rise of supply chain attacks will be more visible .
From July 1 , 2021 , South African organisations will be compelled to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act ( POPIA ). Cybercriminals are aware of this and will position their ransom amounts below the fine amount an organisation would get for non-compliance .
such as XDR – cross-layered detection and response technology – does a great job of breaking down silos , providing a holistic view of threats in an organisation and converting regular alerts into actionable incidents in real-time .
Take for example in South Africa , from July 1 , 2021 , South African organisations will be compelled to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act ( POPIA ). Cybercriminals are aware of this and will position their ransom amounts below the fine amount an organisation would get for non-compliance .
Taking this a step further , managed detection and response ( MDR ) services combined with XDR will see a big uptake . This will happen as more businesses come to realise this is one of the best ways to remain in the cybersecurity fight in 2021 . p
This will see an increase in the number of ransomware attacks as many organisations will not be compliant come July 1 , 2021 .
There is no doubt the pandemic has influenced some trends such as the move to cloud services . The pressure to rush Digital Transformation will also see many misconfigurations resulting in Big Data breaches .
With the increasing cybersecurity skills shortage , businesses need to automate and make the move from reactive to proactive security . Technologies
EDISON MAZIBUKO , CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER , DRS
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