Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023.  Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

The CISO Struggle - Predicting Cyber Challenges for 2023

By Moty Jacob, CEO of SURF Security

Currently, CISOs are struggling to manage security, accessibility, privacy, and cost. The modern browser was created for the consumer and lacks the visibility, control and security needed for enterprise management. To address the differing needs across the enterprise, it's time to turn to the secure enterprise browser.

With this shift, we want to share our top five predictions for 2023

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, numerous companies have shifted their view on the WFH structure. However, this diverse and distributed working environment poses a significant security risk. The combination of employees and contractors based out of different countries and budget challenges means that enterprises can't easily send separate devices and must figure out how to safely give access to the materials they need to get work done.

2.  The Protection Environment Continues to Grow in Complexity

Hybrid environments, BYOD, and WFH require a significant volume of resources to protect the organization's critical data and applications - and security teams are having trouble keeping up.

Furthermore, threat actors have always been comfortable with BYOD and WFH, and their numbers are growing. Malware, phishing, and ransomware attacks are going to become even more frequent, interfering with business operations.

In addition, ever more countries are focusing on protecting individual privacy, so regulations will continue to get more complex - with larger fines, as well - creating significant risk to the bottom line. 

3.  Contractors Will Become More Prevalent

In 2021, 47.4 million Americans left their employers. This great resignation left countless IT teams short staffed and running ragged. To keep business from becoming resource restrained, corporations have been hiring third-party contractors to fill in the gaps. This approach is both pricey and risky. The increased use of outsourcing risks security, leaving sensitive information vulnerable. Furthermore, some contractors work for multiple organizations, further increasing risk of data leakage.

In addition, as inflation continues to rise and the risk of a recession grows, companies are looking to contractors to fulfill their professional needs instead of committing to in-house teams or employees. This approach results in a more distributed workforce with less trust and loyalty. The increased risk requires a creative solution to protect sensitive information across a myriad of networks and devices.

4.  Cloud Moves Faster than IT Teams

Increased cloud migration means companies must control access to different cloud services based on user and device profiles. Commonly accepted figures say that at least 90 percent of businesses have some sort of cloud operations. The challenge - security on the cloud versus security of the cloud - and not everyone can keep up.

5.  CISOs Will Struggle More Than Ever

CISOs must balance threat protection, data security, personnel, and expenses - while ensuring security does not interfere with agility or productivity. This is aggravated by employees demanding more flexibility and working from any number of insecure networks and locations. The balancing act is getting even more complicated with the increasing growth of ransomware and other threats appealing to the weakest link - social engineering against us.

Meeting the Challenges

One platform could mitigate some of these challenges, a zero-trust secure enterprise browser. With the browser as the first line of defense, the cybersecurity stack - CASB, VPN, DLP, SWG, and ZTNA - can be consolidated into one centralized control point, a single tool for on premise or hybrid. Furthermore, using a secure enterprise browser means that RBI and VDI can be replaced due to the built-in isolation and rendering capabilities.

The browser allows you to control access for onsite employees, third-party contractors, and remote workers on any device - BYOD or the company's. Enterprises can create policies that strengthen security while ensuring freedom of work - security truly enabling agility and encouraging productivity.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Moty Jacob is CEO and co-founder of SURF Security, which offers a Zero-Trust secure enterprise browser. A cyber security expert with more than 20 years of experience as global CISO and cyber security professional, from the military to the enterprise, Moty has led information security for major enterprises, including Telefonica, Dunnhumby (Tesco), Traiana, and CME group. He is a founder of the influential group CyberKingdom - a CISO network that includes more than 200 CISOs from a variety of industries across the UK.