The most significant threats are those that are linked to the location of the victim . Often these attacks will originate from nearby countries with political tensions towards the victim ’ s nation , exploiting the digital realm to further their national and military objectives .

There has been a tremendous rise in highly organised , well-funded , cyber gangs that launched successful attacks across a wide variety of victims . Although the attack signature of each cyber gang may be different , the motivations are either , to steal money ; or , to operate as hacktivists promoting political or philosophical views .

More specific examples may include the desire to generate finances and money for the gang operation , to undermine authority , or to conduct mercenary operations in cyber space .

We will see greater collaboration among more autocratic nations , enabling them to increase the sophistication and volume of attacks . We will also see the increased targeting of developing nations . These nations will accept the trade-off of cost-effective , advanced technology for communications like 5G and ports infrastructure with the high risk of future control of those systems by autocracies that strive to strictly control their citizens .

But , while the threat actors are becoming more organised , sophisticated , and better funded , we are also seeing the good actors improving their skills when it comes to cyber resiliency , covering defence , response , and recovery .

In the future , there will be increased collaboration between countries but also between businesses and governments , enabling a much more robust defence against cyber threats . This will require organisations to be more open and communicative – whether they operate in the public or private domain – to improve cyber security .

In any way that AI can be used for good , it can also be used to create harm . One risk we can expect to see more of is threat actors feeding disinformation into AI and machine learning technologies causing such tools to misbehave , mislead , and become disruptive through misinformation .

This is an area that needs great thought into how to provide protection . We also need to adapt our own human behaviours to the vagaries of AI . For now , every output need human verification – we must ask ourselves , ‘ does this look right ?’, until we get to the point when we know the output is accurate and can be trusted .

Threat actors are also exploiting AI to create more sophisticated forms of attack . Given AI ’ s dual nature as a force for both good and bad , the question going forward will be whether organisations ’ AI protection can outpace hackers ’ AI attacks .

Cybersecurity is a great equaliser in the world of work . The best professionals in cybersecurity come from a diverse range of backgrounds . It ’ s this diversity that enables them to think more creatively and solve the most complex security threats , at pace .

On-the-job experience and certification , as well as paid internships or apprenticeships , can often be more important than a classic university background , making cyber careers much more accessible to those from less affluent backgrounds who can ’ t afford university or college fees .

Women are still hugely underrepresented at senior levels within the cybersecurity industry . Organisational leaders must address the gap at the middle layer of management , giving women the opportunities to learn , solve problems , and achieve visible results to help them move up career ladder . •

Dr Joye Purser , CISSP , PhD , Field Chief Information Security Officer , Veritas Technologies

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