With the advent of the mobile internet and an expected 46 trillion connected devices in use by 2021, the growing concern about cyber criminal activity will become commonplace. Therefore, demand for enterprise IT security solutions have increased rapidly, and requests for employee training programs.
Put simply, Digital Trust is a valuable commercial asset that CEOs and their CIOs must protect. That's why more executive leadership teams are being asked to describe their ongoing security plans to the board of directors of public companies.
Enterprise Security Market Development
According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, criminal data breaches will cost businesses a total of $8 trillion over the next 5 years, due to higher levels of Internet connectivity and inadequate enterprise wide security.
The Juniper analysts forecast that the number of personal data records stolen by cyber criminals will reach 2.8 billion in 2017 -- that's almost doubling to 5 billion in 2020, despite new and innovative cyber security solutions emerging.
Juniper study findings highlight cyber security problems becoming particularly acute when businesses integrate new and old systems, without regard to overall IT data center network security.
According to the Juniper assessment, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are particularly at risk from cyber attacks, reportedly spending less than $4,000 on cyber security measures this year.
Only marginal increases in security spend are expected over the next 5 years. These smaller firms also tend to use older Microsoft Windows software, which WannaCry and other recent cyber attacks have exploited.
The research highlights a need for companies to put more money into cyber security services and enterprise computing system upkeep, which should be treated as a vital element of workplace safety.
Outlook for IT Security Solutions Upside
"The attacks on hospital infrastructure show that inadequate cyber security can now cost lives as well as money," said James Moar, analyst at Juniper Research. "Businesses of all sizes need to find the time and budget to upgrade and secure their systems, or lose the ability to perform their jobs safely, or at all."
Juniper's threat analysis shows that ransomware is becoming a far more advanced form of malware, as ransoming stored data and devices becomes easier and more valuable than stealing financial details.
Juniper expects ransomware to rapidly develop into simple-to-use tool kits, the same way Banking Trojans developed into products that required little or no programming knowledge to deploy.
