If cybercrime were a state, it would be the world’s third-largest economy after the United States and China, estimated at $10.5 trillion, up from $3 trillion in 2015. At his 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland on January 18, 2023, Cyber security Ventures has revealed that Albanian Prime Minister Edirama has launched an intervention.
Prime Minister Rama of the public sector of the country hit by cyberattacks attributed to Iran in the summer of 2022 spoke alongside a panel of speakers to release the WEF’s report. Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2023.
According to the report, 86% of business leaders believe that global geopolitical instability is moderately or very likely to lead to catastrophic cyber events in the next two years. What’s more, the report claims that 93% of cyber leaders share the same opinion.
“This goes far beyond what we have seen in previous studies,” WEF managing director Jeremy Jurgens said at a press conference.
According to Jürgens, this fear has been fueled by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has resulted in numerous cyberattacks in both countries as well as other European countries.
“Cyberattacks can spread unexpectedly, [as] Initially intended to cut off communications services for the Ukrainian military, it has been seen in VA-SAT attacks aimed at cutting off a portion of electricity production across Europe,” he added. .
Additionally, the WEF report found that 43% of business leaders believe cyberattacks will have a significant impact on their organizations. Yet only 27% believe they have achieved cyber resilience.
Featured Skills Gap
Meanwhile, the report shows that the cyber skills gap is acute, with 34% of respondents saying their team has a skills gap, and 14% saying they have specific critical skills to protect their organization. They say they lack skills.
Accenture CEO Julie Sweet warned at a press conference:
To start closing this gap, Sweet suggests three actionable steps:
- Protect your core with consistent security built into the technology your organization uses.
- Address talent challenges by deploying automated technology and conducting more and better training.
- Transform the mindset and culture of the C-suite by including cyber leaders in regular business reviews.
This latter actionable step appears to be gaining momentum, with “56% of security leaders now meeting with their board of directors on a monthly or more regular basis,” Jurgens said.
Another positive takeaway from the WEF report is investment in cybersecurity. .
cyber resilience
At a press conference, the Albanian Prime Minister added another cyber resilience challenge on a broader scale. It is that a country needs a larger coalition to defend itself.
“European traditional crime has created an EU that is far more functional than European states. [their actors] EU member states have always struggled to reach consensus on strategy, but they don’t have to engage in endless meetings or deal with vetoes,” he said.
No such cyber coalition currently exists, but Jürgen Stock, Executive Director of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), said his organization unites 195 countries and has a broad range of cooperative efforts in specific law enforcement operations. claimed to be done. Successful.
“A case in point is the coordinated operation in 14 countries on four continents against the West African organized crime group Black Ax, which resulted in the arrest of 75 people, the identification of a further 70 suspects and the loss of more than €1 million in bank accounts. It was confiscated,” recalled Stock.
WEF’s Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2023 report was compiled in partnership with Accenture and includes information from interviews with more than 300 executives around the world.
