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Risk Management

‘Political Polarisation’ now the leading emerging risk for enterprises globally

960 640 Stuart O'Brien
Escalating political polarisation worldwide entered the quarterly Gartner emerging risk tracker for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2023, based on a survey of senior enterprise risk executives.

“Risk executives worldwide are clearly concerned by the potential implications of escalating tensions and conflict all over the globe,” said Ran Xu director, research in the Gartner Risk & Audit Practice. “From Ukraine, the Middle East, the East China Sea, South America, Africa, Western Europe or the U.S., there is evidence of geopolitical instability rooted in increasing political polarization around a number of issues.”

In November 2023, Gartner surveyed 347 senior enterprise risk executives to provide leaders with a benchmarked view of 20 emerging risks. The Quarterly Emerging Risk Reports includes detailed information on the possible impact, time frame, level of attention, and perceived opportunities for these risks.

Mass generative AI availability was the top cited emerging risk in the 4Q23 survey (see Table 1) and has been in the top five in the previous two quarters as well. Escalating political polarization entered the tracker for the first time in second spot, with cloud concentration risk (a top five risk last quarter) coming in third place.

Risk Rank (by Frequency) Risk Name Frequency
1 Mass Generative AI Availability 76%
2 Escalating Political Polarization 69%
3 Cloud Concentration Risk 64%
4 Market Effects from Higher Borrowing Costs 53%
5 Overzealous Cost Cutting 52%

Gartner experts have identified three principal factors that are driving increased political polarisation:

1.    Reinforcing Social Media Algorithms
Algorithms that are designed to ensure engagement and retention on social media platforms by delivering tailored content to individual users, also lead to information silos that feed confirmation bias and can reinforce divisive political outlooks.

2.    Pervasive Economic Pessimism
Although the global economy is still growing, commodity and housing prices remain high amid a recent episode of increased inflation and higher interest rates, squeezing the finances of individuals worldwide. These kinds of heightened economic concerns often push extreme ideological realignments.

3.    Politicization of Civic Institutions
As formerly neutral civic institutions (e.g., the education system) face increasing political scrutiny, public trust in them wavers, and individuals often seek out non-mainstream information sources that align with preexisting beliefs, further reinforcing the impact of social media algorithms.

“The potential consequences of escalating political polarization for any specific organization will be contingent on many factors, such as its line of business or geographical location,” said Xu. “Many organizations, however, will already have been embroiled willingly, or unwillingly, in political debates that could potentially result in reputational damage. Organizations may also be impacted from volatile and unpredictable elections that may cause strategic delays and undermine investor and customer confidence.”

Photo by Sean Pollock on Unsplash

Security and risk management spending to grow by 14% in 2024

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Global end-user spending on security and risk management is projected to total $215 billion in 2024, an increase of 14.3% from 2023 when spending will reach $188.1 billion.

That’s according to Gartner, which says the continuous adoption of cloud, continuous hybrid workforce, rapid emergence and use of generative AI (GenAI), and the evolving regulatory environment are forcing security and risk management (SRM) leaders to enhance their security and risk management spending.

Shailendra Upadhyay, Senior Research Principal at Gartner, said: “At the same time, they are focusing their efforts by adopting technical security capabilities that provide far greater visibility and responsiveness across the organisation’s entire digital ecosystem and restructuring the way the security function operates to enable agility without compromising security.”

Spending on data privacy and cloud security are projected to record the highest growth rates in 2024, with each segment increasing more than 24% year-over-year (see Table 1). Privacy remains a top organizational priority as regulations that impact the processing of personal data continue to emerge, including those related to the use of AI. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 75% of the world’s population will have its personal data covered by modern privacy regulations.

Table 1. Security and Risk Management End-User Spending for All Segments, Worldwide, 2022-2024 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

 

Segment

 

2022 Spending

2022

Growth (%)

 

2023 Spending

2023

Growth (%)

 

2024 Spending

2024 Growth (%)
Application Security 5,047.6 10.9 5,765.2 14.2 6,670.3 15.7
Cloud Security 4,487.4 24.0 5,616.7 25.2 7,002.6 24.7
Data Privacy 1,129.2 9.9 1,338.7 18.5 1,667.3 24.6
Data Security 3,072.9 21.4 3,692.1 20.1 4,333.3 17.4
Identity Access Management 13,944.1 13.6 16,169.1 16.0 18,556.5 14.8
Infrastructure Protection 24,089.0 19.9 28,359.6 17.7 33,319.6 17.5
Integrated Risk Management 5,157.3 9.6 5,687.1 10.3 6,277.7 10.4
Network Security Equipment 18,932.5 11.9 21,383.6 12.9 24,360.1 13.9
Security Services 73,394.7 3.9 80,835.7 10.1 89,996.7 11.3
Consumer Security Software 7,443.4 2.9 7,901.7 6.2 8,406.7 6.4
Others 8,029.8 50.1 11,365.4 41.5 14,362.8 26.4
Total 164,728.0 10.6 188,114.8 14.2 214,953.7 14.3

Source: Gartner (September 2023)

The continued growth in public cloud services will bolster spending on cloud security tools. In the cloud security segment, the combined spending on cloud access security brokers software (CASB) and cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP) is projected to total $7 billion in 2024, up 24.7% from 2023. Demand for cloud-based detection and response solutions — such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) and managed detection and response (MDR) — is also expected to increase in 2024.

Spending on security services – consulting, IT outsourcing, implementation and hardware support –is forecast to total $90 billion in 2024, an increase of 11% from 2023. Security services is expected to represent 42% of total security and risk management end-user spending in 2024, and to remain the largest area of security and risk management spending in 2024.

“In light of cyber risks increasing, cyberthreats proliferating and a changing operating environment, it is more critical than ever for organizations to build and optimize a cybersecurity program,” said Upadhyay. “It is the cornerstone of cybersecurity initiatives which help SRM leaders secure new environments, protect against the expanded attack surface, consume security capabilities in new ways and create better efficiencies through automation.”

Image by Emilian Robert Vicol from Pixabay

2021 risk & continuity buying trends revealed

960 640 Stuart O'Brien

Business Continuity, Risk Assessment & Crisis Communications top the list of risk & continuity solutions the UK’s leading Security professionals are sourcing in 2021.

The findings have been revealed by the Total Security Summit and are based on delegate requirements this year’s recent event.

Delegates registering to attend the event were asked which areas they needed to invest in during 2021 and beyond.

A significant 49% are looking to invest in Business Continuity, 43% for Risk Assessment and 40% for Crisis Communications.

Just behind were Conflict Management (31%) and Incident Management (29%).

% of delegates at the Total Security Summit sourcing continuity & risk products & solutions (Top 10):

Business Continuity 49%
Risk Assessment 43%
Crisis Communications 40%
Conflict Management 31%
Incident Management 29%
Crisis Management 26%
Security Project Management 26%
Security Training and Education 23%
– Disaster Recovery 20%
– Fire Risk Assessment 20%
– Health and Safety 20%

To find out more about the Total Security Summit, visit https://totalsecuritysummit.co.uk.

BeCyberSure joins EEMA to provide ‘strong security’ education…

800 450 Jack Wynn

The cyber security information company, BeCyberSure, has been welcomed by the not-for-profit think tank, EEMA, which specialises in identification, privacy, risk management, authentication, cyber security, mobile applications and the Internet of Things (IoT), as its newest member.

It follows an appearance made by BeCyberSure in June at the two-day Trust in the Digital World (TDW) conference in The Hague, hosted by EEMA, TDL and IDnext. The company participated in a seminar which focused on cyber security for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and provided an opportunity to become involved in initiatives such as Information Security Solutions Europe (ISSE), Trust in the Digital World (TDW) and EEMA’s high-level fireside briefings.

Chairman of EEMA, Jon Shamah, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome BeCyberSure as members of EEMA. The company’s knowledge and expertise in assisting business throughout Europe with regards to their information security strategies makes it an important addition to our expanding network.”

 

To find out more about EEMA membership, click here