Data will be the king in 2023!

Data has surpassed oil to become the world’s most valuable non-human asset. The data generation market boomed this year, as data grew exponentially in variety and volume and became a key driving force behind business innovation and productivity. In fact, estimates indicate that humans will produce and consume about 94 zettabytes of data by the end of 2022.

It has become apparent that data has become both an organization's strength and its weakness, and thus, the need to manage and protect it will remain paramount in the coming years. A lurking threat to the enterprise in today’s world can be traced to the dearth of skillsets. There is a whitespace in the industry where the demand surpasses talent in terms of technology advancements and security.

As we step into the next lap of the data-driven world where sectors like SMBs, BFSI, pharma and public sectors are always on the hot seats of data breaches, let’s look at some trends that will dominate the industry in 2023.

Anchoring through privacy landscape in multi-cloud era
Data privacy has always been under the limelight. Multiple countries have adopted stricter data privacy regulations in recent years to pursue a privacy-first approach. Industry analysts are projecting, that by 2023, upward of 65% of the world’s population will have its personal data covered under various privacy regulations. These demands, combined with the possibility of an economic downturn, are positioned to create a perfect storm of headaches and hardships for IT professionals all over the world.

India is currently undergoing a stellar digital overhaul with the new draft of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill. The new version of the bill allows ease of cross-border data flows alongside a provision for easier compliance requirements for start-ups while also incorporating hefty penalties for non-compliance. As a result, there will be an unprecedented demand for a robust solution capable of centralizing and cost-optimizing cloud data management while also providing proactive cyber-threat detection, universal eDiscovery, and sensitive data classification capabilities.

2023 will usher in a new era to further solidify the India data privacy landscape, continuing to drive critical conversations in the industry.

Continual rise of ransomware
The threat landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, posing a significant risk to not only businesses but also economies and governments. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, cyberattacks have increased globally, and the attacks have become more aggressive in terms of sophistication and reach.

A recent study by Commvault-IDC revealed that close to 49% of India enterprises cited malicious attacks damaging their backup and data recovery. Threat vectors are constantly modernizing their tools with extreme extortion tactics for maximum impact.

We are bound to witness the rise and deployment of new age threat vectors like data exfiltration, data leakage, file sync piggybacking, and ransomcloud attacks, to name a few.

Data management moves up C-suite playbook
The importance of cyber-risk governance is no longer limited to CISOs anymore; conversations are deepening on how organizations can ensure data resiliency, adaptability, and security at the C-Suite level. As we approach 2023, business leaders will need to assess their data infrastructure with a five-point focus approach -- scalability, flexibility, agility, security, and cost. Data protection and management will become a top-tier priority for business leaders.

Significant amounts of the IT budget spend will be allocated and invested in technologies to prevent, detect, and recover from inevitable cyberattacks not if, but when they occur. A study by PWC stated that 62% of respondents expect their security budget to increase by as much as 10% in 2023.

Protection and recovery continue to remain critical
As cloud investments will continue to soar high in 2023, the parallel shifts in the threat landscape will also become more sophisticated. As per the recent Commvault-IDC survey, over 28% of Indian enterprises stated they will have multiple private and/or public cloud environments and migrate workloads and data between them by 2023.

Thus, protection and data recoverability will be essential components in the enterprise security toolbox of organizations. In fact, Commvault-IDC study further suggested that 71% of organisations cited backup/ DR as a number one priority for cloud investments in the coming two years.

Cyber deception takes centre stage
Another year of high-profile data breaches in India has forced CISOs to grapple with the task of implementing a strong cybersecurity solution in 2022. A defense-first approach to data asset protection will no longer suffice. Until now, the focus of data security has been on the ability to recover after a compromise.

As data breaches become more common, organizations must realign their strategies to implement a proactive, multi-pronged approach to protect their infrastructure. This is where cyber deception technology will come into play in 2023, gaining market share.

Deception technology has enormous potential to change the game for security leaders, and by 2023, we will see organizations seeking a proactive approach to luring and attacking bad actors. The global market for Deception Technology is expected to grow at a 12.2% CAGR by 2028. As virtual environments become more popular, deception technology will be crucial for organizations in hardening and fortifying the perimeter from threats of tomorrow

Looking towards a SaaS-y future
In 2022, SaaS (Software as a Service) proved to be a major disruptor in the tech industry and its adoption skyrocketed due to the demands of a pandemic-influenced large-scale digital adoption and the needs of the modern workforce. This trend is likely to continue as indicated by Gartner on the global SaaS market projecting a growth trajectory of 16.8% in 2023.

Today’s SaaS service layer consists of billions of connections, activities, and SaaS/user relationships, representing a solid majority of all cloud services in use by the digital enterprise today. As cloud adoption in a SaaS model continues to proliferate the market, organizations in 2023 will adopt an aggressive approach to SaaS security posture management, to adequately protect the enterprise’s data asset.

Boardroom conversations need to prioritize enterprise security and encourage a mindset change amongst the leadership towards cybersecurity and data resiliency. Several red flags have been raised for businesses to redesign their enterprise infrastructure strategies, align their policies, and address security concerns. It should be regarded as the fundamental cornerstone upon which businesses are built, not just as an afterthought.

-- Balaji Rao, Area VP, India & SAARC, Commvault.