In 2016, the proliferation of threats and their impact on businesses, consumers and even politics continued to be a top news item across the globe. So what will we see in 2017? Following are some thoughts and predictions from IT and security industry analysts on top trends and industry drivers for the new year and beyond, and their impact on organizations worldwide.
Up in the Cloud
The cloud continues to gain momentum as organizations embrace and benefit from new ways of doing business. The forecast is definitely "cloudy" for the foreseeable future, especially when it comes to security concerns in the cloud. But the future is not necessarily all dark. Gartner, Inc.'s November 11, 2016 report titled, "Predicts 2017: Cloud Security" states that, "By 2018, the 60% of enterprises that implement appropriate cloud visibility and control tools will experience one-third fewer security failures."1
Protecting the Endpoint
Endpoint and advanced threat detection solutions were main discussion points among the security community and a growing concern for businesses looking to protect critical assets in 2016. These topics will continue to be top of the "to-do" list for organizations of all sizes in 2017 and beyond. According to the recent Network World article titled, "Endpoint security in 2017" by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) analyst, Jon Oltsik, "Endpoint detection and response tools have been limited to the large enterprise market alone. This is changing, however. In 2017, we'll see EDR products and services go down market. We'll also see EDR analytics start to subsume some SIEM functionality for security investigations and hunting activities."
Traversing the Threat Landscape and Security Management
"The battle against cyber threats is tipping from primarily an arms race to one of operational proficiency," according to the December 2016 report "Stratecast Predictions 2017: The Year Ahead." "Smart vendors recognize this shift and will adapt their product strategies and go-to-market messages accordingly."2 The industry continues to evolve and push innovation to "fight the good fight" against threat actors and their creative ways of perpetrating crime. Organizations are also evolving their security strategies and seeking more personalized solutions that address their individual needs to help more effectively and efficiently protect their infrastructure. In Technology Business Research's "2017 Enterprise Security Predictions" report, industry analyst Jane Wright noted, "To better protect their assets from targeted and persistent attacks, as well as ransomware and distributed denial of service attacks, customers are increasingly signing up for premium security services (also sometimes called advanced, enhanced or advisory security services). Premium security services deliver more personalized, specialized and business-oriented assistance compared to traditional security monitoring and management services. TBR estimates worldwide revenue from premium security services will increase rapidly, growing 18% year to-year to $2.2 billion in 2017."3
Security Enabling Business
Security must be a business enabler in order to be effective and to be embraced by organizations. According to the Gartner report, "Predicts 2017: Information Security Management," "By 2020, IT-sponsored information security programs will suffer three times as many significant breaches as those sponsored by business leaders."4
Security is more than ever an integrated part of everyday business and goes well beyond an exclusive IT issue because it touches all that we do. Security should be an integral part of the decisions that ultimately make a business successful. Forrester analysts note in their November 1, 2016 report, "Predictions 2017: Cybersecurity Risks Intensify Landscape: The S&R Practice Playbook" that, "With too few internal resources, CISOs will turn to external services and automation tools for relief. We estimate that security services and automation will combine to consume 25% of security budgets in 2017. This combined spending will include security outsourcing, managed security services, security consultants and integrators, and security automation technologies."5
And so begins another year that is sure to not disappoint with regards to the world of IT security. Is your organization ready for the next hill on the rollercoaster ride?
1 Jay Heiser, Steve Riley, Greg Young, Neil MacDonald. Predicts 2017: Cloud Security. November 11, 2016. Gartner, Inc.
2 Stratecast. Stratecast Predictions 2017: The Year Ahead. December 2016.
3 Wright, Jane. 2017 Enterprise Security Predictions. January 2017. Technology Business Research, Inc.
4 Jeffrey Wheatman, Earl Perkins, Rob McMillan, Jeremy D'Hoinne, Khushbu Pratap, Mark Coleman. Predicts 2017: Information Security Management. November 16, 2016. Gartner, Inc.
5 Amy DeMartine, Jeff Pollard, Joseph Blankenship, Andras Cser, Heidi Shey, Christopher McClean, Josh Zelonis, and Merritt Maxim. Predictions 2017: Cybersecurity Risks Intensify Landscape: The S&R Practice Playbook. November 1, 2016. Forrester.