Heptagon Future Trends – Cybersecurity: The more things change…

Cyberattacks could cost the world $9tr in 2024. This is despite annual cybersecurity spending growing at over 10% and remaining the number-one priority in enterprise budgets. Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the rules of the game. It has increased both the range and sophistication of potential cyberattacks as well as the tools with which defenders can potentially manage them. AI needs to be incorporated into defences before large-scale adoption occurs in the hacker community. While the imperative is clear, the challenge relates to prioritising IT spend and ensuring appropriate ongoing training and education. Human error remains the number one reason why cyberattacks occur. From an investment perspective, there are multiple ways of playing the cybersecurity theme in both the public and private arena. Given the number of players, we expect industry consolidation to remain an active force and favour seeking exposure either through niche businesses or those with sufficient scale to develop dedicated platforms.