Last week we kicked off a new summer blog series that looks past the hype and identifies the true tech trends that will stand the test of time. Before we can dive into all the fun new technologies that will undoubtedly make the construction industry more efficient and profitable, we must first consider the elephant in the room: cybersecurity.
Every discussion we have from this day forward will have this one caveat underpinning every single discussion. Can the technology be secured? Data is the lynch pin of nearly every business and far too often we are seeing the bad guys taking advantage, getting into the data, and doing nefarious activities or demanding a ransom. One of the first questions we must always ask with new technology is: Can we secure it?
It is clear cyber attacks are on the rise. Research from Cybersecurity Ventures suggests the cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $8 trillion in 2023 and will grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025. Perhaps most frightening is the fact no one is immune from such an attack. It could be a very large corporation like Colonial Pipeline or a very small mom and pop shop.
Government is also susceptible to attacks. Comparitech suggest since 2014, the U.S. government has suffered 822 breaches affecting nearly 175 million records. Based on the average cost per breached record (as reported by IBM each year), the organization estimates these breaches have cost government entities more than $26 billion from 2014 to October 2022.
The good news is both government and private companies are taking action. The White House released the new U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy in March 2023, which creates a framework to protect critical infrastructure from cyberthreats. It also aims to increase collaboration with international coalitions and partnerships to counter threats to the digital ecosystem.
Following that, in April 2023, the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) published Zero Trust Maturity Model version 2, incorporating recommendations from a public comment period, and furthering the federal government’s continued progress toward a zero-trust approach to cybersecurity in support of the National Cybersecurity Strategy. While the Zero Trust Maturity Model is specifically intended for federal agencies, all organizations should review this guidance and take steps to advance their progress toward a zero-trust model.
Zero trust is key, as we move forward into a new era of digital transformation. Here access to data, networks, and infrastructure is kept to a minimum and the legitimacy of that access must be continuously verified. The philosophy is simple, trust no one. The five pillars of the Zero Trust Maturity Model are: identity, devices, network, data, and applications and workloads.
Technology companies are also widely moving to zero trust, as many of the big players are looking at how to secure systems. This is something that has been explored on The Peggy Smedley Show and here on this blog.
Moving forward zero trust and cybersecurity will be foundational for everything that comes next. It will be the underpinning of a successful digital transformation story. As we move forward in this blog series, exploring all that technology has to offer the construction industry, we must keep security in mind.
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