According to a recent report from Internet Trends, 87 percent of all global web traffic in the first quarter of 2019 was encrypted. That’s a significant increase from 53 percent just three years earlier. Some industry analysts believe the entire Internet will be encrypted within five to 10 years.

Shadow IT is a growing threat, largely because organizations vastly underestimate the size and scope of the issue. According to one Cisco study, large organizations use an average of more than 1,200 different cloud-based applications and services — more than 13 times the number recognized by their IT departments.

According to the FBI’s 2018 Internet Crime Report, the financial losses associated with Internet crime increased by 90.8 percent from 2017 to 2018. The highest losses came from business email compromise (BEC) and email account compromise scams, with 20,373 victims losing a total of $1.3 billion.

Although it was written more than 2,000 years ago, Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried wolf serves as a cautionary tale for the modern information security professional. When security alerts become too frequent, people will eventually stop paying attention.

Even the smallest of small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) have finally let go of their old-fashioned paper filing systems, and now store most of their data electronically. Many have become more advanced, using sophisticated applications and leveraging data in new ways to support business strategy.

As your organization grows, technology needs grow. Even if you’re reducing your physical infrastructure footprint, you’ve probably added applications, software and services from different vendors.

Plus, new solutions are constantly being introduced and added to your technology mix, while many older tools never really go away.

You would think headlines about major data breaches on an almost daily basis would cause every senior executive to demand stricter cybersecurity measures. According to a new study conducted by MSI-ACI Europe, that’s not the case. More than six in 10 IT security professionals work with C-level executives who expect more lenient security measures for themselves.

According to Gartner, 30 percent to 40 percent of IT spending goes to shadow IT. Everest Group researchers believe shadow IT could be 50 percent or more of IT spending. Because of the uncertainty surrounding shadow IT, these estimates could very well be on the low side.

Much has been written about the evolution of the cybercriminal. Young hackers who attacked websites just for thrills have grown into well-organized, well-funded criminal operations. The dark web has created a marketplace for hacking tools and collaboration.

An employee goes to IT with a special request. Maybe they need an application reconfigured or want to use an entirely new application, device or operating system. IT fulfills the request to make the employee happy and everyone goes about their business.