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1. It’s the Status Quo for 2018 and a Call to Action for the Future.

Ajay Gupta, program chair of Computer Networks and Cybersecurity and faculty sponsor of the UMUC Cyber Padawans Hacking Competition team said he sees no change in the current state of the cybersecurity industry.

We've known for a while that we are not graduating or training enough professionals; that has not changed. We've also known for a while that systems in every industry are at risk, and that has not changed. Moreover, organizations across industries have not made significant improvements to their security posture even after a digital “Pearl Harbor” with the Equifax breach.

I predict that until we make measurable advances in training professionals who are equipped to mitigate risk across the digital enterprise, we will see no change.

2. There Will Be a Refocus on Developing the Cyber Workforce of the Future.

Loyce Pailen, director of UMUC’s Center for Security Studies, said that during 2018 and over the next few years, cybersecurity and cyber terrorism will continue to impact the organizational, personal, U.S. governmental and political landscapes—and that will force larger segments of society to refocus on developing the cyber workforce of the future.

I predict that the dearth of cyber-trained professionals evident in the early 2010s will reach a critical point by 2020, which will force higher education and secondary-school educators to create cybersecurity programs. Parents, community leaders and others will also begin to include—and require—cybersecurity literacy in pre-schools and primary schools.

My long-term prediction and wish is that media socialization through ad campaigns, films, books, music, gaming and other sources will make “cyber speak” so common that students will grow up to be more readily capable of appreciating and seeking cybersecurity careers.

3. The Cycle Time to Credential Qualified Cybersecurity Professionals Will Be Compressed.

Valorie King, program chair of Cybersecurity Management and Policy at UMUC predicts that workforce demands will dictate a further compression of the cycle times for educating, training, and credentialing cybersecurity professionals. Employers will seek out qualified individuals regardless of bachelor’s- or master’s-degree status and will rely on learning experiences from outside of academia. Badging and alternative forms of credentialing also will gain traction as ways of "qualifying" for entry into the career field or for advancement on a career ladder, King said.

4. Expect a Rise in Skills-Based Hacking Competitions.

Jesse Varsalone, collegiate associate professor of Computer Networks and Cybersecurity as well as head instructor for the UMUC Cyber Padawans Hacking Competition team, piggy-backs on King’s projection with his prediction that, an increasing number of businesses will come to value and support skills-based hacking competitions as a way to provide students and professionals with the critical-thinking and decision-making abilities they need to succeed in a cybersecurity career.

More organizations will come to realize that students who are actively engaged in competitions have a better opportunity to learn and demonstrate their skills. On the flip side, Varsalone said, employers will come to see that watching a student perform technical tasks in a high-pressure team environment provides a great deal more confidence for hiring.

5. The Adoption of Blockchain Technology Will Impact Cybersecurity.

Balakrishnan Dasarathy, collegiate professor and program chair for Information Assurance in UMUC’s Graduate School predicts that one area in the application space—blockchain—is going to explode in 2018 and beyond. Blockchain is the technology that supports the use of vast distributed ledgers to record any transaction and track the movement of any asset, whether tangible, intangible, or digital and open to anyone.

Blockchain technology’s disruptive aspect is its potential to eliminate intermediaries, such as government agencies, banks, clearing houses and companies like Uber, Airbnb and eBay. Blockchain provides these and other companies a measure of speed and cost savings when executing transactions. The blockchain shared, distributed and replicated ledger allows transacting parties to directly update the shared ledger for every transaction. Since parties interact directly through the shared ledger, they have to trust each other, and the transaction records in the shared ledgers should be visible only to the right parties. As such, cybersecurity technologies, specifically cryptography and access control, are critical enabling technologies for blockchain.

6. A Proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) Will Drive Focus on Security.

Bruce deGrazia, program chair and collegiate professor of Cybersecurity said more and more devices will be connected in 2018, but security will be overlooked. We all know about IoT appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, but unsecured children's toys and other smaller devices will be the next frontier, deGrazia said.

7. Machine Learning Will Give Rise to Cybersecurity Challenges and Solutions.

Tamie Santiago, collegiate associate professor of Cybersecurity Policy predicts we’ll see the continued explosion of products in virtual reality, robotics, and the machine-learning space, in which artificial intelligence (AI) is a major component. Just this past year, Saudi Arabia welcomed Sophia, developed by Hanson Robotics, as the world’s first robot citizen, and UK-based AiX introduced a new AI platform for crypto trading that acts as your personal broker.

As AI spreads into every industry, new exploits and vulnerabilities will most likely arise. But, also, cybersecurity may benefit by relying on AI technology to identify attack vectors with more speed and precision.