So many things happened in 2020 that you could be forgiven if you missed one—arguably the biggest cyberattack of all time ended the year. Hackers (presumably state-sponsored from Russia) successfully infiltrated the systems of the highest government agencies of the United States and an assortment of corporations using trojanized malware in SolarWinds Orion software.
The hack exposed about 250 networks and went undetected for months. The majority of the attacks (40%) occurred in the US. Microsoft has disclosed that at least 40 of its customers are affected, and of those, 44% are in the IT sector.
In the attack's wake, Finnish website Sijoitusrahastot looked at research and found that the SolarWinds attack has prompted companies to increase their cybersecurity spending by 20% in 2021. The global cybersecurity market had already been forecast to grow to $248.26 billion by 2023 (by research firm Markets and Markets).
As companies find new ways to protect their data, now that their workforces are decentralized because of the global pandemic, the demand for cybersecurity software will continue to grow—along with professionals who can design and manage it.