Growing IT complexity means more exposure to cyberattacks, but don’t view it as the enemy—embrace it

Seventy years ago, IBM presented the IBM 650 as its first computer machine produced en masse, selling 450 units. Last year, the global information technology industry sold estimated 5.7 billions of dollars goods and services. I believe that this demonstrates that access to digital information is now as important for success as intellectual property or the brand.

More than size, today's key element is its countless and ever -increasing complexity. The growth and scale of connected systems create more relationships between people, objects and lines of code. It is a non -linear, explosive and essential phenomenon.

I love him. The sharing of almost continuous information allows our digital life, with advantages that are the desire for any other time before. I come from a small town in India, and for billions of people like me, your ideas and your motivation could not reach many people before today. This is how we had a revolution in biosciences, how anyone can start a business anywhere and how we are able to predict and face natural disasters better than before. The speed of the data is wonderful. Complexity is growth.

But I also hate that. In a recent survey by Rubrik Zero Labs, 90% of the companies questioned said they were now managing hybrid cloud environments, as in their own facilities, out of site and up to five different cloud platforms. In addition to the hassles, I believe that cyber attacks have at least 10 different ways in a business system.

Cryptocurrencies have enabled cybercriminals to carry out ransomware attacks, and remote work has increased the possibilities of hacks based on identity and social engineering security attacks. A shocking 86% of companies said they had paid a ransom once they got an extortion request, another conclusion from Rubrik Zero Labs. This complexity can impose a huge tax on the economy.

Love it or hate it, however, digital complexity does not disappear. People have the cost of benefiting from the advantage. AI will not simplify everything, nor quantum computer. The complexity must be managed in a completely new way as systems become more and more complex.

The best practitioners embrace changing reality. “I stay in this company because it continues to change,” explains Steve Pugh, Director of Information Security at Intercontinental Exchange, who is, among other market owners of the New York Stock Exchange, term markets and raw materials and risk management practices. Nowadays, in safety, he says, complexity is shown in “a preponderance of automated attacks, more access to hacking tools and an increasing speed of attacks”.

In response, it focuses on the fundamental values ​​of its markets, such as continuous availability, and has built a system focused on the risks of researchers who remain on the latest technologies and piracy techniques, as well as a “red team” of employees who deliberately try to break its safety. Continuous protection means continuous learning.

What complexity do I speak here? In addition to traditional computers, there is More smartphones that people, 92% of them on quick networks. Apple manages 2 million different applicationsFrom tens of thousands of developers. There are billions of more sensors and AI models petact. There is now finished 1,100 Hyperscal data centers, each with 5,000 to more than a million servers.

It's going from here. In current dollars, Manhattan's project to create the first nuclear weapon cost $ 36 billion. This year, Microsoft only will spend twice on ai. Google, Amazon and Meta are all expenses at this level, or more. This means more data, more executives, more use cases, more speed of information, more complexity.

I believe that what is constructed now is not only bigger. It's different. Are data on the color of a car used for online sales, for an insurance report, for an influencer message, for an autonomous program or in the context of a much greater question? Once something that has been mainly stored and sometimes recovered, the data is now in motion almost continuous, creating a new tax on the networks. For the analysis, it must be of the highest quality. If there is a problem with an AI hallucination, it is more likely to be a problem with the data than a problem with the code. The management of the complexity of the data like this is entirely new.

There are similar challenges to come for so-called “simplifying” technologies, like a generative AI that writes code. These will change the workflows, and for a certain time, at least, we must be verified by humans, or verified and tested by still unknown management programs based on AI – another level of complexity. Gen AI can also facilitate the creation of new images, but these will have to be shared, secure and stored, taxing systems and networks.

Part of the solution, with regard to security and many other things, says Mr. Pugh, is to focus on certain human things that do not change. “We always manage the risk that we take,” he says. “We are trying to understand our environment and our opponents. We keep people who are ready to prove the opposite, identifying our vulnerabilities. We have confidence in allies. “

It is a difficult future, but in balance, it is healthy. We offer new technologies that make things more complex for a while, but they are then simplified, allowing us to do even more complex things. Managers must recognize that complexity is not the enemy. This is the consequence of increasing opportunities in our interconnected and complex world. The great leaders will transform the complexity of an obstacle to a catalyst that continues to enrich and improve the quality of life.

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