Cybersecurity has become more complex than ever and current vulnerability management practices are simply not working. Already contending with a deepening skills crisis and the pressures of securing an ever-expanding attack surface, CISOs have now been forced to critically and fundamentally rethink their approach to security. Under intense time pressure, the CISO worked alongside the CIO to enable and secure their distributed workforce – a move that expanded the attack surface and introduced new risk.

CISOs are now taking stock of everything that has taken place over the year. After making it through the first wave of changes, they are establishing how well prepared they are to handle risk and determining just how much their attack surface has expanded. Many have reached the conclusion that they need to restructure their security programs, at least in part.

While necessity may be the mother of invention, the chaos that this year has brought could be the most pivotal time for the security industry. 2021 is poised to be the year that organizations remove the guesswork from security. This will require a shift in mindset away from traditional, antiqued remediation approaches toward modern, insight-driven security programs.