According toreports, evolving cyber threats are among the biggest risks in 2019, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has warned.The WEF’sglobal risks report– ahead of its annual gathering of world leaders and business figures in Davos next week – called for greater collaboration between nations. A survey of 1,000 decision-makers from the public and private sectors as well as academia found that the threat oflarge data thefts and large-scale cyber attacks were a large risk.
Expert Comments below:
Renaud Deraison, Co-founder and CTO at Tenable:
“In the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Global Risk Report, data fraud/theft and large-scale cyberattacks landed in the top five global risks in terms of likelihood for the second year in a row. Technological and environmental risks were the only categories to make it into the top five, signaling a global consensus of the power and potential damage created by the digital and natural worlds.
The report also found that the vast majority of respondents expected increased risks in 2019 of cyberattacks leading to data/money theft (82%) and the disruption of operations (80%). Given the near daily headline-grabbing data breaches and widespread fears of nation-state attacks, these findings should come as no surprise.
Cybersecurity also made its way to the top 10 global risks in terms of impact. Cyberattacks and the breakdown of critical information infrastructure and networks were ranked seventh and eighth for the potential damage they could cause. This indicates that people not only understand the sheer frequency of cyberattacks, but they also appreciate the risk they pose to our digital economy and our very way of life. These rankings reflect the global impact WannaCry, Equifax and the hundreds of other successful cyberattacks have had on our global psyche.
But while cyber risks have made their way to the global stage, the big question is how will organisations respond? Acceptance of the problems we face is the first step. The next step must be action. We must hold global leaders and executives accountable for managing cyber risk responsibly — we as a society must demand it and as customers, we deserve it. We must shift our thinking away from whom can we blame — from nation-states to 15-year-old hackers in their parents’ basement — to how do we stop them? We must collectively come to terms with the reality of a digital economy — everything is connected, which means every aspect of today’s business opens us up to a potential attack. We must develop security strategies that address the new risks created by digital transformation. Failure to do so will lead to a watershed moment that might have irreparable consequences.”
