This post is part of our 2023 cybersecurity prediction series.
Drew Perry, VP of Information Security & CISO at Serta Simmons Bedding
Data will be king as CISOs seek to insulate their budget from cuts.
In 2023, retail will see significant revenue challenges and a tightening of the belt. With economic pressures forecasted to continue, retailers already experiencing direct revenue loss will turn to CISOs to find ways to reduce other losses by taking a closer look at fraud and ransomware preventative measures.
As a result, in 2023 CISOs at retailers will seek to insulate their budgets by focusing on their core program to improve efficiencies that don’t rely on added spend. CISOs will do this by using real-time performance data to gain visibility into the strength of their security posture and what is working across their systems so that they can prioritize the improvements that matter most.
2023 will be a tumultuous year as competing privacy regulations are passed at the state and local level.
Information privacy will continue to grow in visibility and execution, but the charge will be led by various regional regulations that don’t always align with each other. CISOs will play an even greater advisory role to organizational risk as they are asked to help navigate often competing privacy rules to enable businesses to operate as close to historical norms as possible. Wise organizations won’t pull any punches when it comes to protecting the bottom line, so CISOs should expect to be brought into conversations that previously didn’t look for their input. The CISOs comfortable in walking those paths will be sought after for the next several years.
Companies will roll back return-to-work plans to conserve cash amid the economic downturn.
Driven by continued economic instability, there will be an acceleration of organizations going back to remote work on a larger scale as a way to save money on big, expensive office spaces. As workforces become increasingly distributed, CISOs will once again have to prioritize the support of secure collaboration and communication technologies required by this shift. In 2023, zero-trust networks, data loss prevention, information privacy and cross-border data transfers will all become increasingly critical for a workforce that can work from anywhere.
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