Weekly Video: October 17, 2022
10–17–2022 (Monday)
Hello and welcome to another edition of Cyber Risk at Deal Speed, your weekly video rundown of cybersecurity news and strategy for investors, deal teams, and the management teams of portfolio companies.
I’m your host, Shay Colson, Managing Partner for Cyber Diligence at Coastal Cyber Risk Advisors, and you can find us online at coastalcyber.io
Today is Monday, October 17th, and we are on a road trip in Eastern Idaho - but that’s not going to keep us from doing this week’s video.
This week? Geopolitical risk abounds. What does it mean for our businesses? Let’s jump in.
Geopolitical Risk Intensifies Globally
Geopolitical Risk Intensifies Globally
This week has seen a marked increase in risk on the axis of countries that are typical cyber adverseries for the United States.
In short, we’ve seen Russia move to rhetoric around use of nuclear weapons, North Korea is shooting missiles over the peninsula and flying war planes near the DMZ, Iran has protests in the streets and fires burning at their main detention center, and China is facing perhaps it’s greatest economic threat from the US - exactly during the CCP’s party congress.
This last part, I think, is not getting enough attention, so I just want to highlight what’s actually happening.
The US has put new export controls in place that cover advanced semiconductors, equipment needed to make those chips, and services around these industries from being exported to China without a license.
This includes covering American citizens - even those working for non-US companies.
In effect, this has put the Chinese chip industry into a deep freeze overnight.
It is not clear what the retaliation will be from China, but I think it’s highly likely that we’ll see an increase in cyber espionage in the areas that are now being restricted - namely anything having to do with chips, and their AI/ML/GPU implementations.
We are already seeing American companies adjust, with news coming out that Apple will not use Chinese-made memory chips in their iPhones destined for sale in that country, and you can be sure that others will adjust. If you have any worries about compliance, it’s likely a good time to speak to your attorneys.
The other three countries - Russia, Iran, and North Korea - seem to be growing increasingly desperate to distract their own populations and the global eye from focusing on their internal political disfunction, which could raise the specter of additional cyber attacks on the West as a way to distract or even gain some cheap political wins at home.
The takeaway - to steal a turn of phrase from CISO - is that it’s time to ensure that your shields are up. Particularly if you have any contact with these countries as either customers or in your supply chain - or if you are operating in a high technology area.
You ability to protect, detect, respond, and recover will likely be tested in the weeks and months ahead - and being prepared will be critical.
We are entering very uncertain times, and while we can’t control everything, we need to make sure that our businesses are building resilience - including from a cyber risk perspective - to be able to emerge stronger from the challenges that may lay ahead.
Fundraising
As the public markets continue their volatility, private capital sees Private Equity as an attractive proposition.
This week saw nearly $25B in newly committed capital, marking a sharp increase from last week, and putting Q4 on strong footing.
You can find all the links to the stories we covered below, find back issues of these videos and the written transcripts at cyberriskatdealspeed.com, and we’ll see you next week with another edition of Cyber Risk at Deal Speed.
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