Executive Predictions 2024: Constant Vigilance in Cybersecurity

2024 will see several new challenges around cybersecurity. As the world comes fully out of the pandemic, its reverberations are still being felt across sectors. The accelerated digitalization that the pandemic prompted exposed new security concerns and their solutions will reach a new level of maturity in the coming year.

Here are some cybersecurity predictions from Keysight’s executives for 2024.

4 Predictions from Scott Register, VP of Cybersecurity

Data Privacy Remains in the Spotlight

Data privacy is a critical component of cybersecurity, and how you think about it differs significantly from areas like intellectual property. Stringent enforcement of who and what has access to PII data and how to manage it securely requires special attention and specific skills. Increasingly, organizations will outsource the management of PII to help step up their efforts to protect the data and shift more of the risk to a third party.

Supply Chain Diversification Key to Resiliency

Organizations will start to push more risk assumption into the supply chain to protect themselves against inherited security flaws. In 2024, there will be stricter documentation requirements for secure design, implementation, and validation of supply chain components. To build resiliency, organizations will diversify their supply chain for critical parts.

Critical Infrastructure in the Cross Hairs of Threat Actors

Critical infrastructure is a key target of cybercriminals. If the wars in Ukraine or Israel spread, this will drive up the number of attacks from threat actors loosely aligned with nation-states. We’ve already seen increased attacks on utilities, and in 2024, this will expand to include connected medical and smart home devices.

Intelligent Security Testing is Non-Negotiable

Cybercrime is the world’s 3^rd largest GDP, and organizations are under constant attack. Bad actors are already utilizing intelligent tools to try to access networks, so it's vital for enterprises to strengthen their defenses by integrating AI-driven security testing. Companies that fail to embrace intelligent testing are leaving flaw discovery within their network to bad actors. As always - you want to find it before they do!

“Constant Vigilance will be the New Norm,” Gareth Smith, GM of Software Test Automation

As the risks associated with AI are recognized, enterprises will need to appoint an AI and security compliance officer to the C-Suite. Over time, this role will merge with the CSO.

With live learning, it will be vital to have guardrails in place to keep AI on track. Constant checks and balances will be essential to validate that an intelligent system is behaving and hasn't gone rogue. Live surveillance will become standard. However, as these systems develop, it will also be necessary to test that they haven't learned how to look like they are behaving while undertaking nefarious activity.

Reinforcement learning and similar techniques can inadvertently drive the AI to cover its tracks to reach its goal and will be a huge challenge to address before the end of the decade. These problems will create a slew of new opportunities for companies that can help clean up, control, and put guardrails in place for AI.

Securing the software defined vehicle will challenge security teams- Hwee Yng Yeo, Automotive Solutions Lead

As vehicles continue to have more systems and technology embedded, the attack surface for cybercriminals to exploit increases. As cyber-hacking tools advance, security teams are challenged with mitigating threats beyond direct attacks against vehicles, targeting fleets, mobility applications and services, and even EV charging infrastructure.

In 2024, the auto industry ecosystem will continue investing to enhance and increase cybersecurity throughout the vehicle's lifecycle, from design to production and maintenance. This includes rigorous vehicle testing, from physical layers such as onboard in-vehicle networks, communications, and EV charging ports to securing application layer protocols.

Securing the future

The convergence of technologies that define this new paradigm we have entered into have exposed a wider threat surface that can be exploited by bad actors. Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a focus for consumers and innovators are responding with solutions that ensure that their data is secure. Keysight partners with innovators to address the new and evolving threats in their pursuits to connect and secure the world.