If 2020 has proven anything, it’s that the expert-driven model for cloud engineering and business software security is dead. It simply cannot scale with the demand of our times.
The larger enterprises with the ability to pay an increasing market rate for experts continue to scoop up the available talent while the mid-market and below – without the experts – become the next best target for hackers. They can’t find the talent, can’t pay the talent, nor can they afford the massive consulting engagements that have traditionally serviced digital transformation needs.
This has driven hackers to the mid-market and made it the fastest growing target of cyber attacks in 2020.
At least weekly, I am reading about a new survey or research study or article that is describing the increasing demands and pressures on CIOs and CTOs that Covid has ignited. Here are just a few snippets I’ve come across in the last couple of weeks:
Ransomware attacks spiked more than 100% in 2020 —most notably against healthcare organizations.
Middle market companies, especially, have a unique challenge: They must learn to navigate the (digital transformation) journey without the more robust resources of their larger peers, nor the same level of flexibility and agility as their younger ones. They must start the journey today – and those that do are already behind.
Small and medium-sized businesses simply don’t have the resources or the technical acumen to understand the (ransomware) threat environment that they live in.
Almost all (96%) of health systems, hospitals and physician organizations surveyed felt that data attackers are outpacing their medical enterprises.
Nearly three quarters (75%) of health systems, hospitals and physician organizations surveyed reported that their infrastructures are unprepared to respond to attacks.
And as a result:
2020 marks the first time in more than a decade that IT security skills have topped the list of global tech skills shortages.
Let’s be clear about something: this isn’t just a job shortage. The combination of the security skills gap, the growth of cyber attacks, and the fact that every company is now a software company is an existential threat to our economy. In fact, 60% of small businesses are out of business within 6 months of an attack.
To meet this new reality, we must approach cloud engineering and security differently. We must reduce our dependence on individual experts and find ways to scale their knowledge more efficiently and effectively. We have to automate where possible the engineering principles and practices of the experts and make those available to a broader audience. In other words, we need to transform business software the way software has transformed nearly every other business.
If we don’t change our approach, if we don’t make enterprise-grade cloud engineering and security available to more businesses, everyone but the largest enterprises are merely crossing their fingers and hoping not to be attacked. This is a gamble businesses shouldn’t have to make.
To learn more about how BOS can help, drop us an email: contact@BOSframework.com
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2020 State of the Healthcare Cybersecurity Industry Report
2020 State of the Healthcare Cybersecurity Industry Report
