How to tackle the new threats in the digital era

Digitalization is by now an unstoppable force but it is still subject to a tricky and far-reaching change-management process. We are all well aware of the huge benefits for companies now being generated by the digital-transformation technologies. The digital transformation has by now become a well-known concept around the world; it is bound up with such technologies as Cloud, Mobility or IoT, among others, to achieve higher growth of business and innovation. This new paradigm is beset by certain challenges and threats, and this is where cybersecurity comes into its own.

IDC España and IDG Communications have put on the Cybersecurity Forum in Madrid, attracting a turnout of over 300 to find out about the development of new threats and explore different approaches to these new security demands.

During the forum, Javier Zubieta, Head of Cybersecurity Business Development in GMV Secure e-Solutions, took part in the think tank on how to guarantee company security and the current worldwide state of cybersecurity. Specific issues dealt with included the growth of ransomware, the potential long-term advantages of Big Data in this field or any organization’s internal and external risks.

“It’s impossible to predict what will happen tomorrow”, “there is no such thing as total security”, “attacks are evolving day by day”, “risk quantification is complicated”… are some of the concepts that were discussed during this panel discussion focusing on the new threats in the digital era. In one of his interventions Javier stressed that “we must work to protect the known and foreseeable, something that takes up the lion’s share of any organization’s day-to-day cybersecurity, alongside the implementation of recovery measures ahead of the next unknown attack, where the time factor is paramount”. He also pointed out that “it is very hard to quantify the return on any cybersecurity investment though not impossible. An example might be the fight against fraud, where the cost-benefit ratio is calculable and is favorable”. Javier wound up with an upbeat message about what is to come, given that “in 2018 there will be an avalanche of cybersecurity regulations and legislation; this will drive the sector and raise the level of security as a whole”.

The various organizations came up with some hard facts about the coming years. For example, the consultant IDC forecasts that by 2019 70% of the major corporations of Europe and the USA will have to cope with cybernetic attacks. Furthermore, 2016’s total cybersecurity expenditure of 350 billion dollars is expected to have doubled by then. Dominic Trott, Research Manager of IDC’s European security team, showed that the number of online security threats grows nonstop year after year, using increasingly dynamic and coordinated techniques.