In the rapidly spinning roulette wheel that is 2020, it's encouraging to see glimmers of hope wherever you can find them.
One of those glimmers is cybersecurity—or specifically, the increasing role cybersecurity is starting to play for companies.
Organizations are willing to pay a pretty penny for solid security.
But what is the best way to bring technology and startups to market with cybersecurity built in?
Cybersecurity can make products and startups more valuable
New data shows that 93% of executives are willing to pay almost 25% more for more secure devices and technology.
And a new report from the World Economic Forum aims to guide this desire with a framework for incentivizing cybersecurity in tech innovation.
"Entrepreneurs have a twofold responsibility: to ensure that their companies and products are digitally secure and that they have a recovery plan ready to activate should hackers succeed.
Today there is a serious imbalance between the time to market and the time to security. Market forces pressure for shiny new products and tech gadgets or applications, they care little about the security embedded in a new technology."
This report hopes to change that problem.
4 key points about cybersecurity right now
First, the World Economic Forum report offers entrepreneurs four critical truths about cybersecurity:
- Cybersecurity is an enabler of the everyday operations of most businesses today and its significance will only increase in the future.
- It is vital for the founders of and investors in a new business to commit to cybersecurity if they are to succeed in building cyber capabilities and foster a cyber-focused environment.
- The successful future of our digital economies depends on integration of cyber essentials from the get-go of technological development.
- Cybersecurity must be an ongoing, dynamic process, requiring regular assessment of risk and consideration of what else might be needed to reduce risk to acceptable levels and according to evolving business needs and challenges.
How do you build security into your product before market?
Next, the report suggests ways you can build security into products ad startups before they enter the market:
- Focus on organizational security: cybersecurity culture, cybersecurity governance, cyber resilience
- Product security: security by design, privacy by design
- Infrastructure security: data governance, third-party security
Using this triad is critical, according to the report. And it also underscores the broad, lasting impact that one piece of innovative technology can hold:
"Incorporating cybersecurity in technology from the very start of its development is no longer an option; it underpins the survival and stability of our economic systems, the transparency, sustainability and trust in our communication tools. It is a matter of national and international security."
Related podcast: cybersecurity lessons from the pandemic
We interviewed the Director of Research from the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission about the new cybersecurity lessons the U.S. and organizations can take away from the COVID-19 pandemic:
