We look forward to a new year and new opportunities for innovation and growth in the government contracting community. This past year, we experienced an increased emphasis on big data, insider threat, merging technology with health care, and the internet of things, among others.
WashingtonExec reached out to those most knowledgeable and experienced in the federal contracting space. We asked executives in and around the Beltway for insight on the direction they see the government contracting community heading in 2018. Topics discussed include M&A activity, public/private sector collaboration, cloud computing, the incoming millennial workforce in defense/IT/health care, talent retention and more.
Next in the series is Paul Innella, CEO of TDI. He founded, financed and built TDI into a world-class consulting firm offering cybersecurity services to government agencies and commercial clients around the world. Here are his insights:
Internet of things dangers are real, present and astoundingly frightening. In fact, the capacity to hack and attack has grown at a staggering rate simply because of IoT. Prolific applications, devices and systems are communicating without inquiry into, verification or assurance of cybersecurity risk. Nobody can effectively assess the cybersecurity risk of organizations, third parties, cyber insurance, or systems/devices/IoT and their transactions.
“I no longer lie awake worrying about the traditional hacker breaking into our customers’ networks. No, I worry about the collective teams of attackers — who share technology, breach data, know-how and even the spoils from their conquests — owning our customers through their thermostats, ATMs, or MRI devices.”
Don’t forget, compromised DVRs were used to take down the internet on the U.S. East Coast not long ago. Yes, pacemakers can be hacked. Yes, self-driving cars are susceptible to attack — guess what, so are most human-operated cars made in the last decade.
Electric kettles, smart locks, video cameras, all manner of medical devices, fridges, washing machines, televisions… all can be hacked. Imagine a high-value physical target being watched, listened to and potentially harmed via the machines we’ve historically relied on. The bottom line is this — 2018 will be the year of IoT and a cry for cyber to address the ever-growing chasm between transactional security for IoT and unsecured transactions using IoT.
Related: