IT Outsourcing Blog

As technology today is evolving faster than anything else, it is not always feasible for all organizations to keep pace with it or adopt it. As the technology progresses it also becomes vulnerable to risks associated with breach of confidential data. Cybersecurity today has become the earnest concern for businesses.

Recently, the increase in frequency of data hacking and breach has forced the technology governing bodies in various countries to take some serious measures on curbing cyber threats.

With Digitization kicking in too fast in various business verticals it has fueled a need to evaluate network security systems for organizations of all categories.

We have already heard many cases of cyberattacks by ransomware and other viruses causing immense damage to many organizations both economically and socially especially banks. Below we look at some statistical data clearly stating that it is high time now we must rethink and establish that our data is protected and secured.

Highlights of some Data Breach incidents in past 3 years

2016

1. 3 billion plus yahoo accounts hacked in one of the biggest breaches of all times (Oath.com)
2. Uber complaint for stealing information of about 57 million riders and drivers (Source uber news)

2017

1. More than 147 million customers were affected by Equifax data breach (Source Equifax)
2. As per data there were 130 large scale targeted data breaches in US per year and the number is still growing at 27% each year (Source: Accenture)
3. Around 31% of the organizations globally have experienced some form of cyber attacks on operational technology infrastructure (Cisco)

2018

1. Under Armour an American Sports Shoes and Apparel manufacturing company reported their “My Fitness pal” was hacked affecting 150 million users roughly. (Source Under Armor)

On an average there have been more than 8854 recorded data breach around the globe from January 2005 till April 2018 (Source: ID Theft Resource Center)

Cybersecurity Market Analysis

Now with such a huge number of frequent, expensive failures of network security and confidential data breaches there is an increased pressure of all organizations across globe to keep their security systems intact to avoid any intruders. This if not done properly can pinch a substantial loss economically as well as socially in recovering the lost data.

Fearing of losing their data companies have started to take the data security as priority and look for best talents and professional services to be on a safe side. With the growth of IoT (Internet of Things) there is increased risks of data theft which can be very detrimental to the later.

pliXos agrees with an article by SmartCitiesWorld with respect to challenges faced by organizations in hiring and retaining talent IT professionals. According to sources there is an overall increase in Global Cybersecurity Investments with a Global Venture Capital investment of US$ 5.3 billion the future investment is bound to increase in this space.

Also according to TechSci Research report “Global Cyber Security Market” the global market for cyber security is highly expected to surpass US$ 137 billion by 2021.

Fig 1: Global cyber Security Market Size, By End Use Industry, By Value, 2011-2021 by TechSci Research

Top Challenges by CTOs

With the increased number of incidents of data breach and threats each year the gap between available opportunities and skill shortage is worsening situations at many places. Companies are having tough time in hiring and retaining the desired skilled IT professionals for managing the network security space. The top challenges CTOs are facing at present are

1. Skills in existing employees not enough and updated according to latest data security levels.
2. Companies cannot bear the time and costs for training the existing employees for managing the data threats as the situations need immediate actions.
3. Local hiring being difficult companies want to switch to outsourced services for enhancing their network security. This itself is a time-consuming process and comes with no strings attached as governance of vendors is hardly guaranteed.
4. Few initiatives are taken in the line of Public private partnership to lower the gaps and focus to work in close collaboration with internet security communities.

Reducing the Risks of Cyber-attacks

CTO’s must take the cybersecurity skill shortage into consideration before making any decisions.

1. A continuous effort to train the existing staff on cybersecurity skills can be a workable at some organizations
2. Collaborating with external technological vendors with hands on experience in handling all network security issues of similar clients can be a valid option
3. On a global scale promoting public/private partnership of firms can bridge gaps between the military, government agencies, academic institutions, cybersecurity vendors, and venture capitalists backed expert start-ups. This may have a drastic effect in curbing the internet threats of data theft.
4. Following policies such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), Stringent Government regulations along with private sector spending is driving the need to adopt advanced security infrastructures such as Next Generation Firewall, Unified Threat Management etc.
5. Reducing the skill gaps by finding efficient partners offering resort skills from a global pool of talents through an unbiased source such as the pliXos B2B Marketplace can help bringing the users with need and fitting experts together.

The aforementioned falls in line with our earlier article why Europe is the emerging Future Paradise of Software Development and how one can reduce the gaps and outsource software development successfully by using the online B2B Marketplace.

Sources:
SmartCitiesWorld
IT Outsourcing Blog

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