How Will Cybersecurity Change After the Pandemic?

TL;DR

Cybersecurity professionals should prepare for more virtual work, increasingly digital transactions, and privacy risks that are more complex than before the pandemic. Progress will also depend on stronger collaboration among businesses, security teams, universities, students, and professional communities, with in-person mentoring and informal conversations remaining valuable alongside remote communication.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to our RSAC 365 webcast series. Today's webcast is one of a three-part series where you will have the opportunity to listen to some of the sage wisdom and experiences of leaders in the cybersecurity industry. I am thrilled to be joined by members of our advisory board. In the interest of time, I'll introduce my guests with their c... Read More

Key Insights

• Cybersecurity students can treat post-pandemic disruption as an opportunity to reconsider previously planned careers, identify newly created problems, and build solutions suited to a world that differs substantially from the one in which they began their education.
• Cybersecurity work can positively affect societal issues when computer scientists, engineers, and security professionals consider the broader consequences of their decisions. Dena Haritos Tsamitis encourages students to connect technical career planning with the needs that became more visible during the pandemic.
• Privacy challenges did not pause during the pandemic. J. Trevor Hughes says they became more complicated, complex, and risk-filled, making privacy awareness an essential part of planning for a professional environment shaped by virtual activity and changing methods of interaction.
• The post-pandemic professional environment will include more virtual work and a more virtualized world. These conditions will raise additional issues for cybersecurity and privacy practitioners, particularly as digital payments become a more prominent means of conducting transactions.
• Cybersecurity is a community-driven field in which sharing and collaboration help practitioners thrive. Remote platforms preserved some communication during the pandemic, but panelists believe they did not fully replace the professional and interpersonal value of gathering with colleagues.
• Informal professional conversations can move ideas and solutions forward. Exchanges around conference coffee areas, direct interaction with peers, and other spontaneous encounters provide a form of connection that structured online meetings may not reproduce completely.
• Cybersecurity and IT professionals enabled businesses to continue operating, making money, and growing during the pandemic. Their work showed that security teams can help organizations make necessary changes happen, instead of functioning only as departments that reject proposals.
• Student conferences can connect aspiring cybersecurity professionals with senior leaders, speakers, peers, and research opportunities. The RSA Scholars Program gives participating students a forum to present posters, showcase their research, receive mentoring, and build professional networks.

Questions & Answers

Q: How will cybersecurity change after the pandemic?

Cybersecurity will operate in a world with more virtual work, broader virtualization, and greater use of digital payments. These changes will create additional security and privacy concerns that professionals must incorporate into their work. The panelists also expect collaboration, conferences, mentoring, and direct professional relationships to remain important because online platforms do not completely replace human interaction.

Q: Why did privacy risks become more important during the pandemic?

Privacy activity continued without interruption while the surrounding issues became more complicated, complex, and risk-filled. Virtual work and increasingly digital transactions expanded the matters privacy and cybersecurity professionals had to consider. J. Trevor Hughes argues that these developments must be built into future professional practices rather than treated as temporary concerns that disappear when the pandemic ends.

Q: How should cybersecurity students plan post-pandemic careers?

Cybersecurity students should reconsider the neatly defined paths they imagined before the pandemic and examine the new problems created by a changed world. Dena Haritos Tsamitis advises students to think more boldly about the solutions they can create and the positive effects their work in computing, engineering, and cybersecurity can have on broader societal issues.

Q: Why is in-person networking important in cybersecurity?

In-person networking supports the sharing, collaboration, mentoring, and informal conversations that help the cybersecurity community develop ideas and solutions. The panelists value online communication, but they say it does not fully reproduce direct professional connection. Conferences allow students and practitioners to meet accomplished leaders, hear speakers, discuss work, and form relationships beyond scheduled virtual meetings.

Q: How did cybersecurity teams help businesses during the pandemic?

Cybersecurity and broader IT teams enabled businesses to continue operating, making money, and growing while organizations faced major disruption. Wade Baker believes this performance displayed their practical value. Security professionals were able to focus on making necessary changes work, giving them an opportunity to collaborate more closely with executives instead of being viewed only as a department that says no.

Q: What makes cybersecurity a community-driven profession?

Cybersecurity practitioners regularly share information, collaborate on problems, and benefit from interaction with others in the field. Wade Baker describes the profession as an environment where people are inclined to cooperate and thrive through that cooperation. Conferences and other gatherings strengthen this community by enabling the direct exchanges and informal discussions that virtual platforms cannot fully recreate.

Q: How can higher education bring new talent into cybersecurity?

Higher education can connect academic learning with the experience of industry practitioners and expose students to cybersecurity through undergraduate, graduate, business, information technology, and analytics programs. Practitioners who teach can pass their experience to the next generation. Universities can also participate in conferences and scholar programs where students present research, find mentors, and meet senior professionals.

Q: What opportunities do cybersecurity conferences provide students?

Cybersecurity conferences can give students a forum to showcase research through poster presentations, interact with senior leaders, hear accomplished speakers, and network with other aspiring professionals. Dena Haritos Tsamitis highlights the RSA Scholars Program as a particularly valuable setting for mentoring and professional exposure. These direct connections can complement education and help students recognize future opportunities in the field.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The pandemic changed the environment in which cybersecurity students and professionals planned their futures. Dena Haritos Tsamitis encourages emerging practitioners to reconsider established career paths, identify problems that did not previously exist, and design solutions that can positively affect societal issues through work in computer science, engineering, and cybersecurity.

• Privacy work continued throughout the pandemic and became more complicated and risk-filled, according to J. Trevor Hughes. More virtual work and increased reliance on digital payments will create additional concerns for cybersecurity and privacy professionals. Preparing for these conditions requires bold thinking, shared expertise, professional interaction, and renewed opportunities to gather.

• Cybersecurity and IT teams helped businesses continue operating, earning money, and growing during the pandemic. Wade Baker argues that this performance demonstrated their value as operational partners. Universities, conferences, industry practitioners, mentoring programs, research presentations, and professional networking can now help prepare new talent for cybersecurity’s many different roles.