Page 41 - Cyber Warnings

people) drive growth by connecting economies. According to MGI’s analysis, “over a decade, all
types of flows acting together have raised world GDP by 10.1 percent over what would have
resulted in a world without any cross-border flows. This value amounted to some $7.8 trillion in
2014 alone, and data flows account for $2.8 trillion of this impact.”

The reality is that in order for data to fuel and transform businesses, information technology and
security are the essential underpinnings to its ultimate value creation. Technology makes it
possible to correlate, analyze and draw conclusions from data in ways never seen before. Every
industry is looking for ways to monetize the data they uniquely own or can gather. Organizations
must monetize data or they will be left behind.

IDC published its 2017 IT industry predictions, highlighting the accelerated transformation to a
digital, data-driven economy. Some predictions include:

• By the end of 2017, revenue growth from information-based products will be double that
of the rest of the product/service portfolio for one-third of all Fortune 500 companies.
(IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation 2017 Predictions)
• By 2019, 40 percent of IT projects will create new digital services and revenue streams
that monetize data. (IDC FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2017 Predictions)
• By 2020, 50 percent of the Forbes Global 2000 (the world’s largest public companies)
will see the majority of their business depend on their ability to create digitally enhanced
products, services, and experiences. (IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2017
Predictions)

Clearly, the transformative potential of data is huge. Unfortunately, criminals see the value in
data as well.

Cybersecurity in a data-driven world

Business priorities around cybersecurity have evolved in recent years to account for the
changing threat landscape brought on by the increasing value of digital data. 2014 was dubbed
the Year of the Breach, with sophisticated, targeted mega-breaches of customer and employee
data at places like Target, Sony, eBay and Home Depot grabbing the biggest headlines. The
following year saw the rise of stewardship and the role of the CISO, with business leaders
responding in droves to the increasing threat and instituting new security policies and resources
to protect their businesses from data theft. Bad actors got more creative and found new targets.
Witness the massive data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where
background investigation records of more than 20 million current, former and prospective
federal employees and contractors were stolen.

As cyber attacks worldwide increased in frequency and sophistication in 2016, the demand for
highly skilled security talent also increased. The result was an exacerbation of the already

41 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – April 2017 Edition
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