What can the CIO sector expect from 2024?
Carl D’Halluin, CTO, Datadobi
In 2024, the CIO sector can expect that their organization will need to emphasize deep data understanding and agile data handling in order to leverage the full potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
As the integration of AI becomes more deeply engrained into business processes, the demand for nuanced data insights and the ability to identify and move large datasets efficiently for AI analysis and model improvement will rise. This need will transform data mobility into a key component of AI integration, focusing not just on data volume but on its strategic use.
As flash storage costs decline, there will be a shift toward all-flash object storage systems, improving performance due to their speed and scalability. This transition will better serve the intensive data needs of AI, allowing for faster throughput and accommodating growing datasets.
The CIO sector can also expect that the never-ending growth of data will necessitate robust data management solutions.
Data management is expected to evolve towards API-centric architectures for meshed applications, enabling seamless interconnectivity between different IT systems. The push for API-first strategies will foster a more integrated and automated IT environment, with a surge in self-service applications and automated workflows.
Last but certainly not least, the CIO sector can expect that risk management will take center stage in 2024 as more and more companies focus on governance, risk and compliance (GRC) practices.
Don Boxley, CEO and Co-Founder, DH2i
In 2024, the CIO sector is poised for transformative changes in several key areas:
- Proactive IT Infrastructure Management: The emphasis will be on not just responding to problems but actively preventing them.
- Revolutionized Cybersecurity Approaches: The evolving nature of cybersecurity threats will necessitate the adoption of cutting-edge network technologies such as software-defined perimeters (SDP) and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA).
- Enhanced Cross-Platform Integration and Compatibility: As organizations continue to expand their IT toolsets, the demand for solutions that ensure cross-platform compatibility and smooth integration will grow exponentially.
- Accelerated SQL Server Deployments on Kubernetes: The demonstrated efficiency of SQL Server Kubernetes (K8s) clusters on physical servers over virtual machines will lead to the development of solutions that enable rapid deployment of SQL Server Availability Groups in K8s settings.
Alexander Garcia-Tobar, CEO & Co-Founder, Valimail
In 2024, the CIO sector is poised to face a landscape significantly shaped by the rise of disinformation, influenced both by global events and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Marked by the US election, 2024 is expected to accelerate the spread of false narratives, exacerbated by the growing capabilities of AI tools in creating and distributing disinformation. These trends and declining public trust in institutions underscore the critical importance of being able to fully validate sender authentication, especially since email remains a primary communication tool.
The US election year brings vulnerabilities unique to this time period, especially given the explicit warnings that have been made by foreign state actors about their intentions to disrupt or influence the electoral process through information warfare.
The primary attack vectors are expected to be email and social networks, thereby amplifying the need to identify the sender or originator of communications accurately. This will further drive the need for heightened vigilance against targeted information attacks.
Central to the defense against these challenges is the role of email authentication.
As disinformation becomes more and more prevalent, authenticating an email’s sender will become essential for maintaining the integrity of digital communications. This necessity will extend to ensuring transparency in content creation, where the verifiability of the source or authorship of information is crucial in mitigating the risks of impersonation and misinformation.
In addition, the sophistication of cyber threats is expected to rise significantly due in large part to the advancement and widespread use of AI and generative AI technologies. These technologies enhance the ability to imitate real human interactions, leading to more realistic phishing attacks and the spread of disinformation.
The dual nature of AI – as a tool for both beneficial and malicious purposes – makes it increasingly challenging to distinguish genuine communications from fraudulent ones.
Consequently, the email ecosystem, long targeted by generative content, must adapt and strengthen its existing protections to guard against these new threats.
In 2024, authentication will emerge as the most critical defense strategy against these sophisticated cyber threats. Any communication lacking proper authentication will be met with suspicion, establishing authentication as a crucial measure in filtering out potential threats and reducing the risk of falling prey to AI-generated frauds or disinformation campaigns.
This will drive the need to develop more robust and sophisticated authentication mechanisms to keep pace with the evolving nature of cyber threats.
Finally, as email security improves, mainly through stringent authentication requirements, there will be a noticeable shift in the threat landscape. Attackers are expected to pivot to other, less secure communication channels, such as SMS, phone calls and IoT communications. This shift highlights the adaptive nature of cyber-criminals, who continually exploit the weakest points in security infrastructure. It underscores the ongoing challenge for the CIO sector to maintain a comprehensive security posture that evolves in response to the changing tactics of cyberattackers.
