16 Apr Global Mobility Managers Need to Find Right Talent for Cyberattacks

This big C is like cancer. It’s definitely cancer to the tech world, but they’re cybersecurity threats that have morphed into something far more lethal.

They hijack computers and steal important data in exchange for money or payment in the form of bitcoins. The cancer has mutated into ransomware–and many of the biggest companies, with the best IT security, have not been spared.

Global mobility managers are well aware of the dangers and risks. In recent months, companies have initiated countermeasures, riled against the threats in conferences, and thrown their support to the victims of their attacks.

While many think they will not suffer the same painful ordeal, full-on hacking is becoming more prevalent.

Cybersecurity threats are definitely on the rise, and there seems to be no signs of stopping it. Hackers will continue collecting ransoms ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars because they know it’s a profitable criminal venture.

CS Online warns that the total amount of damages caused by cybercrime in 2015 has reached $3 billion — and this will increase to $6 billion in three years’ time, by 2021.

More than six billion people across the globe will be subject to these kinds of attacks. The tech geniuses in places like Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area  are stepping up to build their arsenal. Spending on anti-cybercrime measures will equally rise to more than $1 trillion in that amount of time.

However, IT professionals might find it hard  to cope. For every IT hacker or security professional tasked to protect the IT perimeters of their company, there are three more cyber-criminals out there. The ratio is 3: 1, and companies and their owners will be hard-pressed to step up and be hacker-proof.

The same article points out that every IT professional in the company then becomes integral to its protection. It doesn’t matter if they are an app developer or a computer programmer; more than anyone, it behooves them to study the latest cyberattacks and enlist their executives into arresting them before the untold damage.

But, given the above-mentioned ratio, this approach may not be enough. Regardless of their position or department, employees should also be informed of the situation and given the necessary training to spot and neutralize a cyberattack.

Global mobility managers and their assignees should be at the forefront of this move and even take the lead in encouraging their executives to develop cyber-education programs while also looking to hire more people in the IT security field.

To begin with, these professionals do conduct their business on the global landscape in a way and to a certain degree that their more domestic-bound colleagues do not. They are always on the go, taking trips to foreign-talent hubspots to screen and recruit potential assets.

They practice the bring-your-own-device lifestyle, taking their smart gadgets to various locations. Even when they work in the country home base, they communicate frequently with foreigners whose IT infrastructure may not be as strong and protected as companies that are based in Silicon Valley, for example. Their IT vulnerabilities make global mobility managers and their assignees vulnerable as well.

All it takes is one outdated patch, a virus-carrying email clicked without thought, or an unprotected end-security device, and the entire IT structure can be infected. The training and education of employees and assignees in cyber-matters are no longer an option. There is also a lot of catch-up work to do.

According to Fierce CEO, only 43 percent of employees admitted that they do know that their company has a cybersecurity policy; the rest who are ignorant of this are potential victims sitting on potential targets that can be taken for cyber ransom.

There is a need for more IT security in many of the top tech companies in the United States and global mobility managers should see to it that they can help companies find the right talent.