by Leon Ward, Chief Transformation Officer, Securonix
The recent World Economic Forum meeting focused on “A Spirit of Dialogue”. The conference themes emphasized the role of communication and connection in overcoming challenges and driving prosperity in the years ahead.
Arguably, nowhere is this more relevant than in the fast-moving, borderless, and high-stakes cybersecurity arena. Here, knowledge is not just power; it is also safety, prosperity, and the foundation for future stability. When we share what we know with trusted allies across businesses, industries, and geographies, we become collectively stronger and better able to respond to emerging threats.
As a seasoned cybersecurity professional with a deep interest in translating cybersecurity threat intelligence from raw data into intrinsic value, looking at the WEF conference’s sub-themes through the lens of my own experience also made me think about why building dialogue and community in cybersecurity is critical not only to digital resilience, but also to future growth:
“Cooperation in a more contested world”
Globalization is entering a new phase. Conventional historical, political, and geographic ties are weakening, and new power bases are in the ascendant. As political scientist Anne-Marie Slaughter writes in The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in the Networked World, “Power now lies in the ability to convene, connect, and coordinate across networks.”
As such, today’s influential actors are not only nation-states, but cross-border networks powered by technology platforms, global companies, and digital ecosystems. Malicious ecosystems are included within this; researchers estimate that the cybercrime economy turns over around $1.5 trillion annually.
Politically, socially, economically, and ecologically, organizations are in closer competition for resources than at any time in history, yet they are also subject to shared cyber risk and exposure to the activities of bad actors that threaten their ability to survive and thrive. As a result, the value of cooperation overcomes the pressure to compete. By sharing cyber threat intelligence with “allies”, whether commercial and geopolitical, we elevate knowledge and context, enabling ourselves and our allies to prioritize the tactical actions and strategic direction we need to take to harden and secure the systems we depend on.
How successfully are we doing this? Recent Securonix research shows that businesses are growing increasingly active in cyber threat intelligence sharing. 99% of the 750 cybersecurity professionals we surveyed said they share cyber threat intelligence within and outside their organization. However, currently, only around one-third share it via official threat-sharing communities related to their industries. This figure needs to rise for the industry as a whole to realize the full benefit.
Fortunately, national and international cybersecurity regulators are driving forward a cooperative intelligence-sharing agenda. In Europe, the second Network Information Systems directive (NIS2) and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) both require organizations to implement structured, governed cyber threat intelligence-sharing mechanisms to strengthen sector-wide awareness of threats, improve threat detection and response, and support cross-border stability in key vertical sectors. In the US, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) establishes federal-level information-sharing obligations and mandates cooperation with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Organizations within the scope of these regulations should ensure they have mechanisms in place to communicate cyber threat intelligence to the relevant bodies in a secure and timely manner.
“How can we unlock new sources of growth and deploy innovation at scale responsibly?”
A strong cyber threat intelligence-sharing culture is also a key component of unlocking new sources of growth. Right now, organizations are rapidly adopting new technology – predominantly AI-based – to drive efficiency and reveal previously untapped opportunities.
However, new technology and fast deployment create a breeding ground for cyber risk and opportunistic bad actors who take advantage of governance gaps to infiltrate organizations, steal data, and disrupt operations.
Growth cannot be sustainable if its foundations are not secure. Therefore, as businesses increasingly transfer reliance onto automated, AI-powered tools, it is vital that they are protected to the same – or arguably a higher – degree as conventional technology. As a result, identifying and sharing threats that target novel technology is an essential part of a responsible rollout strategy.
“How can we better invest in people?”
The final conference theme that piqued my interest is about the importance of better investing in people. In the present climate, this must be explored in the context of AI’s impact on job roles, and in the world of cyber threat intelligence (CTI), AI is having a significant impact. Automation and AI-powered analysis are accelerating the collection, assessment, prioritization, and reporting of CTI; we have integrated it into our own products to assist analysts and eliminate repetitive tasks. However, at its heart, threat analysis and intelligence-sharing are fundamentally human undertakings requiring informed and balanced judgement. I predict that the role of threat analysts will become more nuanced and strategic as the heavy lifting is taken over by machines. Analysts will need both broad and deep knowledge of their industry context, and the wider world, to interpret threat intelligence and use it effectively. This will change the skillsets analysts need, meaning organizations should be prepared to invest in their teams, while broadening recruitment criteria for new roles, in order to bring the right skills and potential into their business.
The themes of this year’s World Economic Forum conference reflect the contemporary challenges we face, from increased competition to unlocking growth and human investment in the AI era. While it is only part of the solution, effective cyber threat intelligence-sharing and dialogue between professional cybersecurity communities across industries and geographies will create a rising tide that strengthens the foundations of the secure, successful future we’re seeking to build.
