On Demand: Cyber Security

As someone who has been a member of Facebook since 2008, one of the most oft-asked questions on that interactive site is “What film have you watched at least five times and are still entertained?”

Now I could go on for an hour minimum on that subject, as I’m sure we all could but one movie that ultimately ceases my incessant channel surfing is “War Games.” For those too young to remember that perhaps forgotten 1983 gem, a teenaged Matthew Broderick (this was pre-Ferris Bueller) is a high school computer nerd who, when attempting to hack into a California-based software gaming company, accidently penetrates the NORAD missile defense system and nearly triggers a nuclear Armageddon with pre-Glastnost Russia.

Now I’m sure not more than a handful of those who saw the movie envisioned the scale and scope of what online hacking would eventually become years later in terms of online thieves stealing personal information, accounts and Social Security numbers.

But over the past five years or so, we’ve seen too many examples of online piracy of personal data at retailers such as Target and Home Depot, health care conglomerates Blue Cross and Anthem and financial concerns like JP Morgan.

In fact since 2005, there have been some 75 data breaches where more than 1 million or so personal records were compromised. Let that number sink in for a while.

Then fast forward to last week when credit rating conglomerate Equifax revealed that it too had been the victim of a massive data breach. How massive? Well, up to 143 million Social Security numbers, birth dates and names and addresses may have been stolen.

Armed with that information, one can only envision what hell an unsavory character can put an ordinary citizen through in terms of bank accounts, credit ratings not to mention personal privacy.

Which in a long winded way brings me to today’s missive – cyber-security. For those who follow the profession closely, especially those with strong IT pedigrees it probably comes as little surprise that it is currently one of the most in-demand client service offerings.

At our company we are not technology experts, nor do we pretend to be. In fact when someone broaches us with the possibility of a technology engagement, we quickly refer it to those far more knowledgeable on the subject. But over the past year or so, we’ve been hit with numerous requests from our buyer clients in the market to acquire a firm well-versed in cyber security. In fact we recently closed on a deal where a T100 firm absorbed an IT cyber practice of roughly $1 million, a figure that under the buyer firm’s traditional size-mandate it would not even have warranted a second look.

Equifax will not be that last example of a massive security breach. Nor I’m sure will it be the last time we receive a call from someone shopping for a firm offering cyber security.

Sadly, it’s a sign of the times.