Mark Bowen , Editor of Intelligent CIO North America , says the future of the cybersecurity industry , and therefore the longterm protection of business data , is reliant on an increasing number of role models inspiring the next generation of female data defenders .

There ’ s no doubt that IT leaders constantly need to consider how they keep ahead of the cybercrime curve .

Sure , there are options out there to help – with attacks increasing in speed , agility and sophistication , businesses would be well advised to utilise Machine Learning and AI in an attempt to radically reduce their risk .

Attackers are getting into systems , taking data and demanding ransoms much quicker than previously and there is no doubt that automation will help with the volume of speed of detections .

Thankfully , in the days of reprehensible criminal activities such as Ransomware-as-a-Service , Machine Learning can support the often inadequate number of skilled employees a company has at their disposal . But I can ’ t help feeling at some point that skills gap is going to become an absolute chasm and the cybersecurity of the vast majority of companies , and therefore the security of all of their critical data is going to come under ever-escalating threat .

So , what is the long-term solution to ensuring the effective , long-term protection of everyone ’ s data ?

As well as possessing a comprehensive understanding of an evolving threat landscape , an ability to be able to detect and respond to threats

28 www . intelligentcxo . com