5 Top Cybersecurity Stories of 2017

2017 was a clear indicator that cybersecurity is needed now–more than ever–in the wake of cyber and ransomware attacks such as WannaCry, NotPetya and Bad Rabbit.

Overall, it was a transformative year for the industry and proved how imperative it is that organizations and companies take cybersecurity seriously in order to prevent attacks from happening.

Since the beginning of the year, the Investing News Network (INN) has written a variety of cybersecurity stories that have caught the attention of our investor audience. Continue reading below to see the five cybersecurity stories that garnered the most attention. If you missed them when they were first published–don’t worry–now’s your chance to catch up on your cybersecurity readings.

1. 3 Things You Should Know About Patriot One’s Weapon Detecting Technology

Our top read story of the year goes to this video interview done with Patriot One Technologies’ (TSXV:PAT) CEO Martin Cronin, a Canadian cybersecurity company focused on public safety.

In the interview, Cronin discusses the company’s microwave radar technology, what investors should know about the company, something that makes the company unique, and catalysts that investors should be on the lookout for.

Watch the full interview below.

2. New York State Cybersecurity Regulations To Take Effect March 1st

Our second most read cybersecurity story of the year came in late February, when it was announced that the state of New York’s cybersecurity regulations would come into effect on March 1.

As noted in the article, the New York State Department put forth proposed regulations for banks, insures and other financial institutions in September 2016, with the final version issued on February 20.  Key regulations included: establishment of a cybersecurity program, a written cybersecurity policy, mandatory chief information officer, cybersecurity training for employees, third-party service providers risk, incident monitoring and information security audits.

3. After BadRabbit, What’s Next for the State of Ransomware Attacks?

In third place comes our story following the BadRabbit ransomware attack that took place at the end of October. In the article, INN spoke with industry analysts about the rise in ransomware attacks and what can be done in preventing them in the future.

Alex Heid, chief research officer at SecurityScorecard provided insight into the rise of ransomware attacks and said that part of it can be attributed to victims paying the conversion rate, which is usually quite high. As a result, Heid said most companies would rather just pay money to get the business back on track.

When it comes to retrieving stolen information, bitcoin–and other cryptocurrencies–has become a popular method for hackers to demand in exchange of the information. When asked about if someone doesn’t have bitcoin or a cryptocurrency to pay in order to get their information back to them, Heid said hackers will often provide instructions on how to get bitcoin, and provide a list of bitcoin exchanges.
“Some of them are legitimate exchangers, some of them are underground bitcoin exchangers that are on in the whole operation, so they’ll sell the bitcoin at a significant markup,” he said.

4. Mobile Device Security To Double in Next 5 Years, Report Says

Next is another story that came later in the year on a Mobile Security report suggesting that it will double in the next five years. According to the report, the mobile device security will reach $37 billion by 2022–which is an increase of $18.6 billion in 2017.

The report states much of that growth will come from “the sheer number of mobile devices and their increasing technological complexity.”

5. Cybersecurity Startup Darktrace Now Worth $825 Million

Rounding out our top 5 cybersecurity stories for 2017 is a mid-July article on cybersecurity startup Darktrace.

At the time of the article, the private company had announced a new round of funding worth roughly $75 million. Darktrace is a company that can detect real-time threats through artificial intelligence. Its cybersecurity product, called Enterprise Immune System, “allows for organizations to detect emerging cybersecurity threats while giving them the opportunity to defend cyberattacks as they happen,” the article reads.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Jocelyn Aspa, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.