Coalfire’s 2016 Cybersecurity Predictions

Business Wire

CEOs fired, Securing IoT, and Cyber Insurance to Dominate Headlines in 2016

LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As 2015 comes to a close, Coalfire, a leader in cybersecurity risk management and compliance services, today provided its predictions for what will impact the cybersecurity landscape in 2016. Coming off of a year when “cyber risk” entered the lexicon of corporate boardrooms, CISOs and CIOs are recognizing the reality that a cybersecurity breach is inevitable.

“The lessons learned from this past year teach us that no one is immune to cyber threats. The sooner corporate boards and executives come to the understanding that cybersecurity breaches are a very real and pervasive threat; then the hard work can begin to take preemptive measures as well as prepare an appropriate response and recovery strategy,” said Larry Jones, chairman and CEO of Coalfire. “In 2016, businesses will continue leveraging transformative digital tools to better communicate and serve customers in more efficient, yet impactful ways. While these tools are transformative, they need to be deployed in a thoughtful and considered manner so as not to possibly put sensitive information at risk. Trust and credibility brand traits are able to withstand hacks only if businesses invest in response and recovery efforts as diligently as their investment in cyber protection.”

For 2016, Coalfire’s top three predictions are the following:

1. More CEOs will step down or be fired post-breach. Cybersecurity is no longer seen as an issue for IT departments to manage. Due to the potential for reputational, financial and legal damages, more C-level executives will be held accountable for the impact of data breaches. As such, corporate boards will scrutinize new CISO hires, more than any other C-suite positions.

“If executives do not take cybersecurity seriously and cannot demonstrate they have taken due care to protect their customers’ personally identifiable information, and the organization’s intellectual property and reputation from cyber risk, then they will be looking for new jobs,” said Kennet Westby, president and co-founder of Coalfire. “Post-breach investigations will focus on whether there was management negligence in addressing risk and whether they were compliant.”

2. Mobile comes further into focus. Mobile device management (MDM) and MDM providers will play a larger role with integrated cybersecurity strategies. The need to secure and manage risk in mobile devices comes as a result of increased use of cloud-based apps and the need to meet compliance standards, such as FedRAMP.

“More mission-critical cloud apps and the maturity of Internet of Things (IoT) are two forces that will converge at the CIO’s desk to present new challenges with enterprise mobile device management,” said Mike Weber, vice president of Coalfire Labs. “A new breed of network endpoints will be the new entry points for cyber threats.”

3. Cyber Insurance offerings become ready for prime time. There will be a larger uptake in cyber insurance as better and more comprehensive products become available globally. This gives C-level executives more ability to control and balance the cost of a breach.

“Business leaders are just now beginning to acknowledge that the potential for damages and losses from cyber risks can exceed other insurable risks,” said Tom McAndrew, chief operating officer of Coalfire. “The losses from cybersecurity incidents continue to grow and companies are realizing that the full potential costs for cyber breaches are difficult to quantify. Cost considerations need to include other potentially significant direct and indirect costs such as forensics investigations, legal-defense and court settlements.”

For more information about Coalfire’s cyber risk assessment and compliance services, please click here.

About Coalfire
Coalfire is the global technology leader in cyber risk management and compliance services for private enterprises and government organizations. Coalfire’s professionals are renowned for their technical expertise and unbiased assessments and recommendations. Coalfire’s approach builds on successful, long-term relationships with clients to achieve multiple cyber risk management and compliance objectives, tied to a long-term strategy to prevent security breaches and data theft.

Coalfire is currently listed as #74 in the “Cybersecurity 500 Hottest Security Companies” and was recently named one of the Top 20 Most Promising Risk Management Solution Providers. For more information, visit www.coalfire.com.