A year of covid-19: the impact on cybersecurity

Earlier this month, Babel hosted a live-streamed event which looked at how cybersecurity has been impacted by COVID-19. Today, we’re launching a whitepaper which delves into some of the key points in a bit more detail.

Hosted by Babel’s Simon Coughlin, our panel included Nicole Perlroth, cybersecurity reporter, New York Times, and Professor Ciaran Martin, CB, founding chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and currently Professor of practice in the management of public organisations at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

Broadcast to coincide with the World Health Organization’s declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic a year ago, the event was the latest in the #BabelTalks series, offering marketers, industry players, and other interested stakeholders the opportunity to hear from experts in both the cybersecurity sector and the cybersecurity media.

Perlroth and Martin faced a number of questions, with discussion covering ransomware (including attack and defence mechanisms), nation state attacks, how the shift to remote working has changed the threat landscape, and the role of the government and legislation in addressing and reducing cybersecurity incidents.

Protecting businesses and individuals from threats is only one part of the puzzle. As organisations operating in this market, cybersecurity vendors must also ensure their voices are heard, their content reaches the right audiences, and that their messaging is relevant in a rapidly-changing news agenda.

This is a crowded market with businesses competing for media attention in order to get their name, their expertise, their opinions and their products in front of the decision-makers who matter. Journalists also operate in a very busy space, covering a seemingly constant stream of breaking news of cyberattacks and developments in the space.

How has the pandemic influenced the nature of the that organisations face? How have cybersecurity threats been covered by trade and business press? What insight do journalists need from cybersecurity firms to help explain evolving threats? And what can brands do to ensure that these insights make the pages of their target publications?

These were among the questions discussed at the #BabelTalks event and which are explored further in our whitepaper, available to download now. In case you missed it, you can also watch the event in full here.

Are you a brand trying to get your name out there and your messages heard in the cybersecurity space? We’ve got the knowledge, the contacts, the experience and the team to help you – get in touch.