All around us, the world is now connected, from our mobile phones to our PCs to street security cameras and our cars. We are constantly transmitting data, one of our most valuable assets, through the airwaves globally and even into space.
This information can be connected to our bank accounts and home security system. There are even IoT-enabled baby monitors.
So, what's protecting all this valuable data?
The Internet of Things as a whole is subject to security breaches that can go so far as to drastically impact internet service, such as was the case with the Mirai botnet that used unsecured IoT devices in October 2016. Just recently, Brickerbot completely and permanently crippled unsecured IoT devices.
The IoT is just one pathway through which we transmit life’s constant flow of data.
Of course, many hospitals and doctors offices are now storing health records in digital format and transmitting them over the internet to other practices.
Plus, workplaces are beginning to adopt biometric technologies for door entry and computer system security which raise ethical concerns even outside potential data breaches.
Citizens aren't the only ones who are vulnerable. Even governments have their own vulnerabilities and active hands in the hacking world.
Tax information was recently hacked through the FAFSA government portal where students apply to receive financial aid such as the Pell Grant. In other governmental hacking news, a leak indicated that the NSA could have been targeting the SWIFT banking system. On top of this, another leak published an extensive list of hacking tools and secrets used by the CIA themselves.
Even Bitcoin is vulnerable through BGP exploits which we explain here.
Needless to say, cyber security holds massive opportunities for entrepreneurs and startups who can find innovative solutions to the security issues that plague the modern digital world.
Because our infrastructure relies so heavily on data and the internet, one major attack could become disabling on a large scale.
The University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) has proposed several scenarios for the state of cybersecurity in the year 2020 including human physical and emotional tracking and manipulation, usage of IoT networks in cyber attacks, sale of data to criminals, and even a commonplace acceptance of stolen data as a mere fact of life.
The cyber security market is estimated to grow from USD 122.45 Billion in 2016 to USD 202.36 Billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.6%.
–According to Cyber Security Market by Solutions (IAM, Encryption, DLP, UTM, Antivirus/Antimalware, Firewall, IDS/IPS, Disaster Recovery), Services, Security Type, Deployment Mode, Organization Size, Vertical & Region – Global Forecast to 2021.
That is a lot of room for a clever business person to enter the CSEC scene.
One major trend in CSEC right now is artificial intelligence for use in spotting and even mitigating threats in near real-time. A trained AI can notice suspicious behaviors even from insiders who have valid credentials. Catching “fishy” actions and alerting security professionals can ward of insider threats, something that has been a great struggle in previous decades. The same artificial intelligence software can also take note of other breaches, resolve some by itself, and pass along any further threats in priority order to those responsible for the networks.
These sorts of cybersecurity AIs use vast amounts of data, big data, to give network information context, and can learn throughout daily activity. This decreases occurrences of false alerts and saves time and money.
One new development in cybersecurity is the use of mutating encryption or so called moving target active defense.
CryptoMove is constantly shifting, fragmenting, mutating, and re-encrypting data to create a “moving target” effect for adversaries. Because the data is never at rest, the system is strengthened against potential attacks on a constant, active basis.
But that’s only one of our problems in the cybersecurity realm where issues are quickly catching up to some of our most vital infrastructure.
If you’ve got an entrepreneurial spirit, please set your sights on resolving these issues for benefit to you, your company, and mankind.
In the meantime, check out the Top 10 Cybersecurity Companies to Watch in 2017 for inspiration.