Cybersecurity Trends for 2021

Coming into 2021, the FireEye’s recent breach of its Red Team assessment tools by Russia-backed hackers, and the resulting discovery of the source of the breach as SolarWinds ORION Network Performance Management solution remind us that the demand for cybersecurity tools and professional services to audit, detect and mitigate threats remain a top priority for organizations. Specifically, there will be an accelerated need for both offensive and defensive cybersecurity professionals (e.g., red and blue teams, respectively) to simulate attacks against organizational networks to evaluate the blue team’s ability to defend them.

Looking forward, 2021 will continue to see deepen usage of solutions leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). For example, the total AI market is likely to reach $190 billion by 2025 with a large share focus on computer vision and related applications. AI is also benefited from the emerging market for autonomous driving which is expected to grow to $1.33 Billion by 2027 according to Fortune Business Insights. This expansion will increase the demand for IT professionals skilled in the auditing of AI/ML systems, especially those with expertise in neural networks and deep learning to understand and interpret the inputs and outputs from these complex systems. AI and ML systems are not built as standalone solutions, but most are leveraging cloud infrastructures, services, and platforms such as Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). As examples, both Uber and Lyft rely on multiple cloud vendor including AWS and services from Google Map API and TensorFlow to support their transaction and routing solutions. The usage of cloud infrastructure also enables Internet of Things (IoT) devices to also proliferate and exchange information at scale, creating new business opportunities and challenges. Accordingly, the demand for cybersecurity professionals with cloud computing skillset to review and secure these solutions will remain high in 2021 and beyond.

As Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) systems becoming important tools for accelerating innovation and new ways of doing business, there will likely be a surge in cybersecurity incidents including hacks, disruptions and, possibly, the lost of intellectual properties.

In summary, what are our predictions?

• Cloud migration will reach a feverish pace as organizations seek to leverage cloud infrastructures and applications to support the increasingly more productive and demanding remote workforce.

• The demand for cybersecurity professionals with cloud computing expertise to analyze and secure these cloud solutions will remain high through 2021 and beyond.

• Many more previously ignored (and less important) systems and applications will undergo critical examination for indicators of compromise and insider threats.

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning will gain widespread use across the enterprise and will increase the demand for professionals skilled in the auditing of AI/ML systems, especially those with expertise in neural networks and deep learning to understand and interpret the inputs and outputs from these complex systems.

• The demand for security and privacy assessments of Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality systems and applications will continue to rise with increasing innovation and market adoption.