Let me spare you the suspense, because we don’t deserve one.
Most people who have become aware of cybersecurity in the past few years think we are talking about credit cards, passwords, and firewalls.
Really?
I give these rookies a pass. The real fault lies which those of us, including myself, who have been toiling in this field for a decade or two. We are the ones to blame.
Who is really deserving of being decorated as the best actor in cybersecurity?
Who has told the story of the true threat we face in a way worthy of the sort of universal praise garnered by not just the Oscar winners, but the nominees?
Wouldn’t it be great to have our field mature to the space where the entire industry is willing gather together and celebrate excellence the way the motion picture Academy does?
Are we not as good as the film community?
Ok, we don’t need a red carpet and self-aggrandizing speeches, but we do need the energy, the creativity the excellence that our motion picture brethren display.
Multiple estimates suggest we lost as much as $500 billion to cyber crime last year and estimates indicate that could rise to $2-6 TRILLION by the end of the first Trump Administration.
That’s more money than the entire health care industry. Is it receiving the same attention, from government or industry?
The evolution of the threat matrix means that critical infrastructure, only theoretically at risk previously, is now likely to become a real present threat.
Where is the investment? Where is the attention? Where is the action?
I look forward to the day when we will thank the Academy for nominating a range of excellent efforts in our field.
I fear that day is still a long way off.