Cyber security

Cybertech Global 2020 Cybersecurity Conference – What we can expect to see in Tel Aviv

Jeremy Hess

Jan 23, 2020 - 4 min read

The Cybertech conference series returns to Israel with Cybertech Global kicking-off on January 28 in Tel Aviv. One of the largest cybersecurity events in the world, 18,000 decision-makers, government officials and top executives are expected to attend this year.

We are looking forward to attending and learning about the latest threats and how organizations will be strengthening their security and cyber resilience programs in the year ahead. The organizers have put together another great program with very notable speakers, including a keynote from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The following are a few topics from the agenda we’re particularly looking forward to – maybe you will, too?

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5G and communications

The world is currently racing to deploy the next generation of cellular technology, 5G, which is expected to have a profound impact on the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0 and advanced technologies like edge computing and autonomous vehicles. IoT is growing so quickly and its impact is already enhancing how we live and work. However, these devices and the networks over which they communicate are also potential points of exploits for hackers.

The management of an IoT ecosystem is a massive undertaking; one tiny misconfiguration can lead to vulnerabilities in an organization’s attack surface. Once a device is compromised, hackers can move laterally through the network and gain access to higher value data stores and more.

Having the knowledge and know-how to keep these complex networks operating and secure are imperative for IT teams. They’ll need to ensure their skills are always up-to-speed, or acquire them quickly, as hackers certainly aren’t going to wait for them.

Security at major events

2020 will see several major events that will draw global attention, each requiring unique approaches to security, all on a massive scale. This year alone, the world will take great interest in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the World Expo in Dubai and the U.S. presidential elections.

To call managing security around major events like these “complex” is an immeasurable understatement. The elections and Olympic games will be taking extra precautions, given history. Local voting precincts are preparing to make sure their electronic voting machines are patched and Olympic organizers will try to avoid a repeat of the attack that affected the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

We cannot wait to learn what it takes to secure these large, notable events.

Cybersecurity investments

Cybertech Global will naturally be tackling best use of cybersecurity funds. Investments in security are growing rapidly. IDC predicts global spend to reach $133.8 billion USD by 2022. Much of this will go towards technology armed with the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities, zero trust, deception networks and more.

Accenture’s Cost of Cybercrime Study revealed that people-based attacks is the fastest growing category in the threat landscape. The study also presented three tips for “unlocking the value of cybersecurity.” Leading the list is to prioritize protecting against people-based attacks with “training and education to reinforce safe behaviors.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Securing cloud and hybrid-cloud environments

Cloud adoption is mainstream – and expect plenty of discussion around this topic. Gartner predicts public cloud revenues to grow 17% in 2020 reaching $266.4 billion, an increase from $227.8 billion in 2019.

Securing an on-premises environment is much different than securing one in the cloud. The cloud is a dynamic, auto-scaling environment, which means the underlying network is constantly changing. A naive CISO will attempt to apply the same techniques they use to secure their on-prem network in the cloud. This leads to a never ending chase of vulnerabilities and points of exploit.

Last year’s Capital One breach demonstrated how critical it is for IT teams to make sure their cloud instances are properly configured. A former Amazon employee was able to steal 100 million consumer credit applications by exploiting a minor misconfiguration in a firewall to launch a server-side request forgery attack.

This shows the convenience of the cloud can be a double-edge sword. No question, the cloud provides enormous efficiency and reductions in cost. However, both are contingent upon the teams managing the environments to have knowledge of how the cloud works – and the ways to secure it.

The maturation of AI/ML

Several years ago, AI burst onto the scene as the next big thing and vendors scrambled to somehow work those capabilities into their solutions, either from an actual standpoint or even just a marketing one. Now, AI and ML are mature and security is certainly an industry that stands to benefit greatly, making IT teams’ lives much easier.

Robust security requires the analysis of a lot of data, ranging from network events and changes to the infrastructure to what applications are communicating over the network. No human, or even team of humans, can stay ahead of all the analysis that is required. The industry now knows that is where AI serves the greatest value and solutions are now featuring mature versions of artificial intelligence to reflect that.

Crunching numbers and data is the job AI and ML were born to do. We are now seeing fascinating applications and use cases, as indicated by the focus of many sessions at Cybertech. We’re greatly looking forward to those.

See you in Tel Aviv!

We’re excited to attend this year’s show and talk about how cybersecurity labs can help train your employees to keep your organization more secure. It’s sure to be another great event with a lot to learn. It’s unsettling to think that any one of us, or the businesses where we work, could become a victim of a cyberattack at any moment.

We all need to maintain a strong security posture and remain vigilant and that starts with understanding. Cybersecurity training and education will continue to be central for organizations to avoid ending up in the next cyberattack headline.