The Changing Face of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity threats are becoming more sophisticated and pervasive with each passing day. As a leader of a SOC (security operations center), protecting of customer devices, critical client systems, and empowering security operations across numerous industries, I feel burned out often. The attacks that truly break my heart are the ones that used to be offlimits. It wasn’t long ago that school and healthcare industries were largely untargeted by cyber attackers. That’s no longer the case. In the MOVEit incident alone, education represented more than half of all reported breaches. Ransomware continues to climb, and our latest data sets indicate a seventy percent surge in attacks year over year and there is no doubt 2024 will continue the trend.

The stakes have never been higher. As a result, there has been a real push to integrate cybersecurity education into the K-12 curriculum. We’ve tried to train staff better too.

There are some great resources out there, to be sure! While this is a step in the right direction, it may not be enough on it’s own.

AI and the Rapidly Shifting Landscape

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought about seismic changes in various sectors, particularly cybersecurity. AI-driven attacks are not only more potent but also more adaptive, posing unprecedented challenges to our defenses. The exponential evolution of AI means that the threats we teach students about today will be obsolete by the time they graduate. This dynamic nature of this technology creates a fundamental problem: the curriculum cannot keep pace with the changes.