Today’s attackers, whether individuals, organized crime rings, or even hostile nation-states, are more sophisticated, better organized, and better financed than ever.1 This can be seen in the growing number of threats, such as advanced persistent attacks, ransomware, and wiper threats—often facilitated by the rise of Crime-as-a-Service (CaaS), new attacks targeting nontraditional devices, and the increase in multifaceted attack strategies. And new concerns are looming, such as the weaponization of artificial intelligence (AI) and the fear that quantum computing will degrade the effectiveness of the encryption tools that are the basis for much of modern cybersecurity.
However, it’s not just the threat landscape that is changing. Broader economic and social trends are leading many organizations to rethink their approaches to network security as part of new digital transformation projects. The Internet of Things (IoT), the rise of hybrid-cloud computing, the vast increase in remote work demands, the distribution of data center and application resources, the convergence of IT and operational technology (OT), and the continued shortage of skilled security professionals are just a few of the realities driving organizations to reassess their security strategies.