Driven by awareness at the topmost levels of the executive suite, IT managers will also rely more heavily on their security teams, integrating security into business-critical initiatives such as mobility, application development, and business intelligence. Once seen as separate camps, IT and security will begin a new wave of collaboration, and the result will be secure systems, improvements and awareness of security in IT operations, software development, and endpoint management.

This new emphasis on security in the C-suite and in the IT department will drive growth in security’s “human capital.” Spending on security staffing and training will increase. Salaries for skilled security professionals will grow. And there will be a stronger understanding of the value of security to the business, making security an even more important part of tomorrow’s plans and budgets.  The impacts of security breaches are now recognized as negatively impacting the global economy.  The effects may take several years to recover.

Technology lost many battles for the defenders in 2013, but those losses taught us a valuable lesson – that the capabilities of technology are extremely limited unless they are supported by an army of security professionals that is strong in numbers and honed in its skills. Armed with this lesson, Tipton believes that the tide in the cybersecurity war could turn in 2014 – and the defenders with the strongest human skills will have the advantage.

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