Hackers are Unstoppable?

According to research by Kaspersky Lab, 86% of Cybersecurity professionals think that hackers are not stoppable and will eventually succeed at compromising the systems that the cyber pros are hired to protect.

In my opinion, this awareness of the seriousness of the threat is admirable.  Such an attitude should keep us all on high alert.

On the other hand, the view may also become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The most significant risks come from two groups:  criminal gangs and insider threats.

Criminal gangs of hackers are generally motivated by financial gain. These types of breaches happen every day. Most of these never make the news because they are relatively small in scale. Many of these are not even properly reported.  The Kaspersky survey showed that these security experts believe that 40% of their attackers are likely to be organized, criminal hackers.

The increased risk and the understanding that systems will eventually fall to an attack leads to the belief that most cyber experts will see their budget increase (56%).

Financial loss and reputational damage are the most concerning potential outcomes of cyberattacks.  Of course, these go hand in hand.  If your reputation is damaged, customers will likely take their business elsewhere.

Donald Korinchak, MBA, PMP, CISSP, SecurityX, ITILv3

Donald Korinchak is a Cybersecurity Professional in the Washington DC area. Donald holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh Katz School of Business. Donald is considered a thought leader in business, leadership, and cybersecurity issues.