Have you changed your password lately? If not, you must have been snoozing in 2016.
Hacked e-mail accounts were a major source of embarrassment for many organizations this year, from the Democratic Party to Yahoo, which has said 1 billion user accounts were hacked.
And such events have made investing in cybersecurity critical for many companies. Cybersecurity Ventures, a leading research firm on cybersecurity issues, projects that worldwide spending on cybersecurity will hit $1 trillion between 2017 and 2021. And Denver-area investors are paying attention. Private investors snapped up cybersecurity firms including Ping Identity and Optiv Security — both Denver firms were en route to going public.
Other local companies found sizable investments aimed at growth, including LogRhythm in Boulder, which raised $50 million from venture capitalists, and startup RedCanary, which gathered $6.1 million from investors. Broomfield’s Webroot decided to grow larger by acquiring San Diego-based CyberFlow Analytics.
The state of Colorado also took a big step toward combating cyber crime and attracting jobs by approving $8 million to renovate the former TRW manufacturing plant in Colorado Springs and turn it into the National Cybersecurity Center.
With all the hacks, attacks and cyber breaches, one thing 2017 will need more of is enough cybersecurity workers. And that means thinking differently about how to fill those jobs, Ed Rios, the center’s CEO, said in an interview earlier this year.
“We need to extend beyond our traditional academic methods of teaching cyber,” he said. “We still need cyber engineers, hardware engineers and computer scientists. I’m not saying to stop that. But at the same time, we need to bring in relevant skill sets to match the pace of technology and the changes going on. That way, when a person graduates, they have immediate value.”
Read the rest of the top business stories of 2016
- Amazon and Colorado make peace
- Vail buys Whistler Blackcomb
- Voters lift minimum wage
- Towns get creative to solve high country housing crisis
- Chipotle’s less-than-healthy recovery
- Internet shakes up how we watch TV
- A new era for Molson Coors
- R.I.P. Sports Authority
- Cybersecurity firms gain investment as hacks proliferate
- Overtourism becomes an issue
- Denver home prices stay hot, but rent gains cooling
- Energy outlook brightens
