13 March 2017 at Taylor Wessing
2016 was another landmark year in cybersecurity.According to a report by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), there was a 40% increase in the number of data breaches in the U.S.compared with 2015. More than 4.2 billion records were exposed during data breaches last year, up from 1.1 billion in 2013, according to a January report by Risk Based Security Inc. The massive Yahoo data breach has put its acquisition by Verizon into question; Yahoo was also recently hit with a class action lawsuit related to the breach. And here in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) — part of intelligence agency GCHQ — says the UK receives 60 serious cyber-attacks each month.
In multiple surveys CIOs say they feel they’re losing the battle against cybercrime. IDC estimates that corporate cybersecurity spending will grow twice as fast as overall IT budgets and will total $101.6 billion by 2020. Venture capital firms, seeing an opportunity, funded a record number of cybersecurity start-ups in 2016, according to CB Insights. Some are now opening specialized cybersecurity funds.
2016 also saw the passage of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Investigatory Powers Bill, also know as the Snooper’s Charter (although a December decision by the European Court of Justice could put the legislation at risk. Although Brexit brings a great deal of uncertainty for both.
What should we expect for 2017? Are there new threats we need to guard against? New technologies that will afford better protection? How will recent legislation affect those who process — and protect — personal information? For our meeting on March 13th, Women in Telecoms & Technology assembled an expert panel of speakers to examine the growing threat of cybercrime, and discuss how individuals, companies, and governments can improve cybersecurity. Our panel was chaired by Sally Annereau, senior data protection adviser in the Information Technology, Telecoms & Competition group at Taylor Wessing, and included:
- Philippa Cogswell, Director of Cybersecurity, Darktrace;
- Ruth Davis, Head of Commercial Strategy and Public Policy at BT Security;
- Lisa Hamilton, Associate Director, Risk Advisory, Deloitte LLP; and
- Paul Glass, a partner in Taylor Wessing’s Disputes and Investigations group.
We would like to thank Taylor Wessing for hosting this event.