What is the Roadmap to Effective Cybersecurity Strategies?

Which Strategies are Redefining Zero-Trust Policies for Organisational Shifts

Enterprises’ spending on battling malinformation will surpass $500 billion by 2028, cannibalising 50% of marketing and cybersecurity budgets. Explore what Gartner recommends.

With the rapid adoption of technological advancements, enters opportunities for malicious actors to pilfer organisational data. As a consequence, they can create and propagate highly effective mass-customised malinformation. 

This has eventually prompted organisations to invest heavily in tools and techniques to combat the issue. A forecast by Gartner revealed that enterprises’ spending on battling malinformation will surpass $500 billion by 2028, cannibalising 50% of marketing and cybersecurity budgets. Here is where organisations need to reconsider their efforts against cyber thefts down the years. 

Why do organisations need to rethink their cybersecurity strategies?

Although emerging technologies play a vital role in preventing cyber thefts, organisations still need to restructure their cybersecurity strategies, ensuring that they are innovative as well as cost-effective. 

Emphasising the importance of incorporating zero-trust cybersecurity policies, Deepti Gopal, Director Analyst at Gartner, said, “As we start moving beyond what’s possible with GenAI, solid opportunities are emerging to help solve a number of perennial issues plaguing cybersecurity, particularly the skills shortage and unsecure human behaviour. Any CISO looking to build an effective and sustainable cybersecurity program must make this a priority.”

“To bridge the gap, cybersecurity functions must build minimum effective expertise in these teams, using a combination of technology and training to generate only as much competence as is required to make cyber risk-informed decisions autonomously,” Gopal added. 

Also Read: Skill Gaps and Unethical Usage of Generative AI Tools Can Risk Sensitive Data

Which strategic plans will strengthen the cybersecurity game for global organisations?  

Gartner recommended cybersecurity leaders should restructure their cybersecurity strategies for the upcoming two years, based on a few predictions. Enlisted below are a few of them: 

Specialised education on Critical Cybersecurity roles to become a priority 

With people becoming equipped with GenAI usage skills by 2028, organisations will not require people to hire employees for entry-level cybersecurity positions. As a result, this will change the entire process of training cybersecurity professionals with GenAI skills. 

Cybersecurity teams must coordinate with HR partners to identify adjacent talents for critical cybersecurity roles that prove to be valuable resources for supporting their internal use cases. 

GenAI-equipped tools to impact security behaviour and culture programs 

Enterprises are expected to combine GenAI with an integrated platform-based architecture to develop security behaviour and culture programs (SBCP) by 2026. This will further reduce employee-driven cybersecurity incidents by 40%. Consequently, it will prompt organisations to increasingly focus on developing GenAI-powered hyper-personalised SBCP content meeting day-to-day employee attributes. 

Legacy systems in zero trust strategies will continue to be addressed 

Around 75% of organisations will remove unmanaged, legacy, and cyber-physical systems from their zero trust strategies by 2026. As a repercussion, CISO will migrate to reliability-centric environments to perform specific tasks, overcoming cost and scalability challenges. 

Personal liability and D&O insurance laws to update 

The directors and officers (D&O) insurance is expected to extend to cybersecurity leaders by 2027 due to personal legal issues. So, enterprises need to introduce new laws and regulations, such as SEC’s cybersecurity disclosure and reporting rules, mitigating personal liability, professional risk and legal expenses.

IAM programs and security initiatives to be aligned 

Several times identity and access management (IAM) leaders struggle to articulate security and business value that drive accurate investment. This practice is going to change with the surging IAM roles and their importance, where 40% of them are forecasted to take over the primary responsibility for responding to IAM-related breaches.

In order to break the traditional It and security silos, CISOs should give stakeholders visibility into the IAM roles. It’s possible by aligning the IAM program and security initiatives.

Comprehensive data risk and security policy development to rise 

Nearly 70% of the organisations will be combining data loss prevention and insider risk management disciplines with IAM context to effectively identify suspicious behaviour by 2027. This has prompted vendors to create capabilities representing the overlap between user behaviour-focused controls and data loss prevention. So, organisations should recognise data and identity risks for using them in tandem as the primary directive for strategic data security.

Summing it up, 

While emerging technologies are prominent in enhancing security measures, it’s imperative for organisations to ensure their strategies are both innovative and cost-effective. Cybersecurity leaders must embrace a proactive approach by implementing strategic plans that mitigate cyber threats and safeguard their valuable assets in an ever-evolving digital world.