As we begin 2021, ISACA experts are weighing in with anticipated major trends in the worlds of cybersecurity and emerging technology that they expect to gain traction in the new year. Below is a sampling of their insights:
DevSecOps
"The industry has been talking about DevSecOps for years, and 2021 is the year that it needs to become commonplace. The need for DevSecOps has never been greater, as more and more companies are moving critical enterprise workloads to cloud platforms and will need to figure out how to utilize all of the great security capabilities and tooling that is provided by the cloud service provider platforms. It will be up to customers to make the shift to DevSecOps to harness the power of these capabilities for effectiveness and efficiency. Customers need to start planning that change now.”
- Brennan P. Baybeck, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CISSP, ISACA Board Director, 2019-2020 ISACA Board Chair and VP & CISO for Customer Services at Oracle Corporation
Accelerated cloud migration
“As I noted in a recent article, companies remain concerned with securing their remote work infrastructure, especially when employees are using their own equipment at home. In 2021, most enterprises will accelerate their migration to the cloud by 150-200%. This is a direct result of the move to remote workers because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new work landscape that will outlast the end of the pandemic. Cloud can improve the ability to securely manage enterprise applications and remote workers, but brings some of its own risks.”
- Rob Clyde, CISM, NACD Board Leadership Fellow, ISACA Board Director, 2018-2019 ISACA Board Chair, executive chair of the board of directors, White Cloud Security
AI solutions leveraging the cloud
“2021 will bring deepened usage of solutions to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). For example, the total AI market is likely to reach US$190 billion by 2025, with a large share focus on computer vision and related applications. AI also will benefit 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 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). For example, both Uber and Lyft rely on multiple cloud vendors, 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 proliferate and exchange information at scale, creating new business opportunities and challenges. Accordingly, the demand for cybersecurity professionals with cloud computing skillsets to review and secure these solutions will remain high in 2021 and beyond.”
- Tuan Phan, Partner, Caplock Security
AI governance
“AI governance will become a higher priority for organizations. The most considerable challenge to AI privacy in the enterprise is around governance. Organizations are just getting their arms wrapped around AI design and, to a lesser extent, ethics. They are struggling with building and operating a governance system around AI privacy. Key governance-related challenges enterprises are navigating include the lack of a globally accepted standard framework for AI privacy, the need for comprehensive documentation despite related data management risks, and implementing role-based training programs for those who are involved in the design and operation of AI systems.”
- Jenai Marinkovic, vCISO & CTO, TiroSecurity, and Technology Advisory Board, Beyond
AR/VR/XR: security and privacy
“In the new year, biofeedback and AR/VR/XR technologies will continue to rise in innovation and adoption. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for these technologies and opened the world’s eyes to the possibilities and even necessity for these technologies for not only our mental and physical health, but also our ability to continue to improve business and educational practices. Along with these technological innovations, the securing and privacy of the data created, collected and stored by these devices will be paramount.”
- Dustin Brewer, Principal Futurist, ISACA