Digital Trust model, cloud-based security to drive cyber security in 2019

The cyber space witnesses animated battles between the hackers, who are on the prowl breaking into networks, and security experts attempting to keep tabs on them. The constantly evolving cyber security shields will get better, Dimension Data, the Johannesberg-based IT services company has said.

Based on interactions with organisations, the firm has released key trends for 2019 in the area of cyber security space. Matt Gyde, Group Executive (Cybersecurity) of Dimension Data, identifies five key trends that will empower the space.

According to him, the trust will go digital as the technology helps organisations to embrace Digital Trust model, moving away from the present Zero Trust (don't trust anything, any person inside or outside the organisation) model.

"In 2019, Zero trust is maturing into digital trust. IT will leverage ‘digital fingerprints’ for smoother authentication of users and provide them with easier access to apps and information," he says.

"Identity-as-a-Service, user authentication, identity and access management are expected to be the largest segments for market growth in the information security market. This could grow at a compounded annual growth rate of of 10.3 per cent between 2018-2020," the trend forecast observed.

The firm says that organisations are focusing on cloud-based security platforms. "We found that nearly half of the firms believe that cloud-based security is faster to deploy and reduces costs better than on-premise," it says.

This, however, faces two challenges in adopting cloud-based security solutions -- human resources required for such adoption and integration issues with security technologies on the premises.

With issues related to security occupying significant time and effort, organisations seem to have realised the importance of securing the networks at the design level.

"Over 90 per cent of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) hope to improve the strategic alignment between the security of their organisation and its business processes. Organisations that approach cyber security by focusing on people, processes and technology can more successfully prevent, mitigate, and remediate attacks," Matt Gyde says.

The forecast also sees a growing role for Artificial Intelligence in the cyber security technologies. "About 12 per cent of enterprises have already deployed AI-based security analytics extensively, and 27 per cent have deployed AI-based security analytics on a limited basis. We see a third of enterprises expressing willingness to use AI-based cybersecurity technology to better curate, correlate, and enrich high-volume security alerts," he points out.

They also want to use AI-based cybersecurity to improve operations, prioritise and automate the right incidents and remediation tasks.

The forecast sees tighter regulation affecting risk profiles of organisations. "With new and revised standards and policies, many organisations struggle to achieve balance between operational security and compliance," it says.

"About half of businesses said the threat of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) fines made them more nervous of using cloud-based apps and services. About 53 per cent of firms said they now encrypt the data they process, while 47 per cent have a warning system in case of a breach that could put customer data at risk," the trend forecast says.

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