Rethinking Cybersecurity: The Road Ahead for 2025
How do we actually make a difference? Have we made a difference? Can we make a difference?
This post takes a different tone—it's not focused on CTI specifically. Instead, it's a reflective look back at 2024 and a forward glance into 2025.
I critique myself relentlessly. It's a habit, maybe even an obsession, to dissect my own motives and actions.
At times, I despise the paradoxical narratives spun by so-called "thought leaders," and I can’t help but feel the sting of recognizing that, yes, I might occasionally (okay, often if you ask some) fall into that same trap.
It’s both sickening and, dare I admit, oddly gratifying (“a narcissistic high born from the delusion of elitism”). Everyone else? Fools, surely…(not).
But reality? The cyber landscape is increasingly swarming with those who posture as visionaries, shouting grand theories without rolling up their sleeves to actually do the work.
Take a moment. Scroll through your LinkedIn feed. You’ll see it: a sea of what you could call “alpha alchemists,” those who are endlessly regurgitating rhetoric dressed as innovation.
It’s not that the entire industry is broken—not by a long shot. I respect my peers, there are some that are beyond a doubt inspiring leaders, exceptionally skilled and articulate - but sadly across the industry at large there seems to be an undeniable air of performative progress.
It’s akin to trends like minimalism, hipster coffee connoisseurship, or the rise of armchair property moguls in the golden COVID rush. Everyone is onboard the bandwagon in some form. A show, a spectacle—but to what end?
It’s time to pause. To strip away the noise and ask the hard question:
what are we really working towards in cybersecurity?
Lost in the Noise, Blinded by Success
How can we be so collectively "great"—so skilled, so innovative—yet feel or be so lost, overworked, and disillusioned? We’re dazzled by the success of others, hypnotized by eloquent soundbites that ignite our parrot brains to feel smart.
We repeat others words, churn out others ideas, rarely stopping to question their meaning, implications, or relevance.
It’s like a known false positive SOC alert blaring “critical” on a dashboard—an attention-seeker with no real value, or purpose; though everyone still scrambles to respond to ‘nothing’, nor do they take the time to understand its original purpose or detection use case.
We can do better. We must do better.
Breaking the Cycle: Refocusing on Purpose
Instead of chasing validation, the next big trend, or the big shiny certification (paper tiger), we need to come together and beat to a somewhat unified drum.
Our job isn’t to inspire through performative acts of greatness but to face the hard truths, tackle real problems, and solve them.
Cybersecurity shouldn’t be a stage for self-gratification or hollow inspiration. That’s what Instagram’s for!
It’s about one thing: reducing the likelihood, severity, and impact of incidents. It’s about creating real, measurable value for end users and the world at large.
The Ultimate Question: Are We Any Closer?
Can we have a collective missing statement in Cybersecurity?
And if so - What is our collective mission statement?
What are we actually trying to achieve?
And are we closer to that goal, or are we worse off?
The answers aren’t easy, and they won’t come from LinkedIn soundbites or the next wave of cybersecurity buzzwords. They’ll come from honest reflection, hard work, and a renewed focus on the basics:
identifying the problem,
working the problem,
and driving meaningful change.
It’s time to stop the noise, step back, and ask ourselves, our peers the only question that matters:
What are we working for, and how do we make it count in 2025?
Await… my… response…. in 2025!
Till next time…