Introduction
The Information Technology (IT) industry is a multibillion industry because of its relevance or persistence in society today. As a critical part of human advancement, technology is becoming a household term which encompasses almost every aspect of human life. This industry grows every day. When speaking about growth in the field of IT, both humans and machines come into play and blend in a manner that both become inalienable from the other. This situation is clearly reflected in the cyber security sector where human beings and machines interact in a special manner with a view to alleviating the daily risks, and eventually making the information technology industry and the internet safe for growth.
The internet has only been around commercially for about thirty years so the phrase time immemorial is a non sequitur - the cyber security sector, in particular, has evolved taking into account threats that emerge every day and threaten the future of the internet and the safety of its users. Cyber security experts have always worked tirelessly to ensure that this safety is achieved despite the fact that 100% fidelity of the cyberspace is still imaginations figment in someone’s imagination. The lack of a completely safe cyberspace is primarily caused by the fact that new cyber security issues pop up every minute and the experts have to find a way to counter their negative impacts. The year 2017, therefore, has seen major emerging trends in cyber security, spanning from the human workforce improvements to machine sophistication, all working in tandem to realise the dream of an attack-proof cyberspace. In as much as it is a long way from home, the top three trends that will be identified in the following sections already seem like a game changer.
A review of the NAICS and the SOC codes led to the uncovering of the industry trends. One of the trends is data theft becoming data manipulation. Attackers are slowly shifting from pure theft of data to compromising the integrity of data. As such, demand for security skills is rapidly rising as opposed to the past. Similarly, unlike before, attackers are focusing on consumer devices through complex and unbeatable breaches. The Internet of Things is catching up, as the complex security breaches give way for complex remedial measures like the multifactor authentication. Finally, new job titles begin to appear in the industry, for example, chief cybercrime officer (CCO), alongside a change in the workforce composition with the emergence of a blended workforce.