Digital payments are growing at an estimated 12.7% annually, and are forecast to reach 726 billion transactions annually by 2020. By 2022, an estimated 60% of world GDP will be digitalised. For the FATF, the growth in digital financial transactions requires a better understanding of how individuals are being identified and verified in the world of digital financial services. Digital identity (ID) technologies are evolving rapidly, giving rise to a variety of digital ID systems.

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Databases have become increasingly sophisticated over the last decades. The relational database is the most common. This technology allows data to be viewed in dynamic ways based on the user’s or administrator’s needs. The most common language used to communicate with databases is Structured Query Language (SQL). SQL allows users to pass queries to database servers in real time. This flexibility causes a major vulnerability when it isn’t securely implemented. Don’t confuse the language SQL with Microsoft’s database product SQL Server, though, like most databases, SQL Server uses Structured Query Language.

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Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are important to supporting US critical infrastructure and maintaining national security. ICS owners and operators face threats from a variety of adversaries whose intentions include gathering intelligence and disrupting National Critical Functions.
As ICS owners and operators adopt new technologies to improve operational efficiencies, they should be aware of the additional cybersecurity risk of connecting operational technology (OT) to enterprise information technology (IT) systems and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

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The Cyber Security Skills in the UK Labour Market 2021 report explores the nature and extent of cyber security skills gaps (people lacking appropriate skills), skills shortages (a lack of people available to work in cyber security job roles) and job vacancies in the UK.

The research uses a mixture of:

• Representative surveys with cyber sector businesses and the wider population of UK organisations (businesses, charities and public sector organisations – with a focus on businesses)
• Qualitative research with training providers, cyber firms and large organisations in various sectors
• A secondary analysis of cyber security job postings using the Burning Glass Technologies database.

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The Cyber Security Breaches Survey is an official statistic. Since 2016, it has measured how UK organisations approach cyber security, and the impact of breaches and attacks. This infographic shows the key findings for UK businesses.
Despite COVID-19, cyber security remains a priority among management boards.77% of businesses say that cyber security is a high priority for their directors or senior managers (vs. 69% in 2016).

Phishing is the most commonly identified cyber attack. Among the 39% identifying any breaches or attacks, 83% had phishing attacks, 27% were impersonated and 13% had malware (including ransomware).

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