Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018.  Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Contributed by John Kronick, Director of Security Services at PCM, Inc.

2018 is looking very Cloudy

As 2018 begins, we will see the rapid expansion of cloud services and all things related to moving applications, infrastructure and services to the cloud, as organizations scramble to remain competitive, take advantage of artificial intelligence, IOT and big data for improved data processing and decision making. But security and compliance requirements and regulations will continue to hound the industry to instill greater protection of consumer data. Here are some of the trends I predict:

1: Big push for financial services and healthcare to the cloud, driving the change in networking from MPLS to SD-WAN, moving from fat desktop clients to virtual desktop infrastructure.

2: More and more firms will move to a multi-cloud environment and hybrid IT solutions (both cloud and on premise) that will require more complex security solutioneering. With the proliferation of clouds for applications, infrastructure and disaster recovery, organizations will opt to use many clouds for its operations, and this will increase the need for a stronger IT and security governance function.

3: IOT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications and devices will "surge into the mainstream" but will NOT replace humans in the short run, but will underscore the need for greater security and privacy controls that have been woefully absent in 2017. Consumers will have so much more information at their fingertips from these devices and applications, but whether that information provides meaningful value or lifestyle improvement remains suspect. Does having Google or Amazon suggest purchases for you to make because their apps analyze your previous purchases really add value to your life? There is one notable exception - medical IOT devices. Quality of life improvement will be greatly enhanced by the breakthroughs noted in the medical space. AI capabilities will drive the security industry to develop automated detection and response capabilities for products to preclude data breaches and system outages.

4: Much greater emphasis on Security across the IT infrastructure and application spectrum. Security has risen as the top issue for most companies towards the end of 2017, and 2018 will see an even greater need for security in the IT space. With the proliferation of malware, particularly ransomware, attacks on organizations has increased at every level. There has been a 62% increase in the number of corporate IT attacks over the years 2009 through 2017, and that number will likely increase, as attacks steadily increase month by month. One third of Companies successfully attacked in 2016 showed that the attacks totally bypassed the victim company's security mechanisms. What that shows is that organization security provisions and trained staff are not keeping up with the rising tide and complexity of hackers and hacking devices. This has led to a new breed of security practitioners and skillsets to address the latest hacking ploys.

5: Need for global data centers or cloud proximity to maintain compliance with GDPR and other new regulatory requirements. As companies grapple with data privacy and security regulations while operating in a global environment, there is an increasing requirement to track data and metadata based on user data location and user origin. For instance, GDPR requires that data only be shared by GDPR-compliant countries and organizations, and each organization must maintain a Chief Privacy Officer or their delegate in an EU country. Additionally, data must be identified and defined at the transaction level per individual such that if the individual chooses to not have their data stored by the organization, that data must then be removed and an accounting provided to the user. Such requirements are intense, and the preparation for companies to become GDPR-compliant is quite an undertaking. The deadline for compliance is May 2018, and most companies are not prepared to meet that deadline.

6: Virtualization sprawl is a major concern for many organizations, and has become a focus in 2018 for optimization and consolidation.  Global server virtualization market forecast for 2018 is 28% increase. Many organizations are realizing that they are underutilizing their environment because they oversubscribed their virtualized infrastructure, and are wasting money with their current configurations. Hence the need to optimize and stay competitive.

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About the Author 

 

Mr. Kronick, an accomplished security innovator and security architecture thought leader, recently joined PCM as Director of Security Services in February 2017.

Mr. Kronick has over 25 years of professional experience in providing strategic and tactical privacy, security, risk management, transformation and forensics assurance services to healthcare, governmental and commercial entities; including CISO roles at Gartner, CitiBank, Purdue Pharma and Estee Lauder, 3 years of significant expertise in public / private law enforcement liaison activities, 4 years in a "Big 4" public auditing firm (Deloitte), 8 years SOX, PCI and security compliance management, as well as 15 years of global security operations.

Prior to joining PCM, Mr. Kronick was Vice President at Coalfire Systems, leading the Western Security Practice.  Mr. Kronick was also Senior Manager at Accenture, where he was responsible for delivery of retail, banking, manufacturing and healthcare security services to many large commercial and government clients for 4 years.