Cybersecurity trends turned unpredictable after COVID, says PwC

The pandemic and the worldwide adoption of remote working resulted in cybersecurity undergoing years’ worth of transformation in a matter of months and therefore it is tough to understand the current cybersecurity landscape and predict security trends, PwC India said on Friday.

The effects of the COVID-19 crisis that began last year are still visible across the cybersecurity landscape, making it difficult to predict security trends for 2021. Considering the unprecedented events of last year, any predictions for the immediate future cannot be definitive, the firm said.

Rising geopolitical tensions worldwide have resulted in governments and enterprises increasingly focusing on cybersecurity to protect their assets from cyberattackers. Instances of cyberattacks by national/state actors targeting critical infrastructure and nationally important establishments are becoming more common, said Siddharth Vishwanath, partner and cyber advisory leader, PwC India.

“In 2021, there will be an increased focus among countries on developing stricter cybersecurity regulations and efforts to build both defensive and offensive capabilities,” he said.

On data, he said that the importance of data had risen meteorically, with online transactions/interactions becoming a larger part of daily lives in the pandemic.