We’re sure you have heard this before: the rate of technological change is accelerating. It is unpredictable and unprecedented. As the World Economic Forum acknowledges , the fourth industrial revolution brings “developments in previously disjointed fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and genetics and biotechnology [that] are all building on and amplifying one another.”

This unprecedented disruption of society by technology introduces many changes in the workforce as well. In the words of the World Economic Forum “more than a third of the desired core skill sets of most occupations will be comprised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today.”

The key to surviving and exceling the digital future of the fourth industrial revolution is leading it. That requires two key elements: awareness of disruptive technology and professional development that can make you stand out from the competition.

Technologies will Transform Economies in 2025

It is very exciting to see the pace and transformative potential of today’s innovative technologies being applied to solve the world’s most pressing problems. The World Economic Forum recently published 17 ways technologies have the potential to transform economies in 2025.

AI-driven Manufacturing

Companies that design and build products will rapidly adopt cloud-based technologies to aggregate and intelligently transform product and process data from manufacturing lines throughout their supply chains. By 2025, this ubiquitous stream of data and the intelligent algorithms processing it will enable manufacturing to continuously optimize towards higher levels of output and product quality, reducing overall waste by up to 50%. As a result, we will enjoy higher quality products, produced faster, at lower cost to the environment.

Quantum Computing

By 2025, the first generation of quantum commercial devices will be able to tackle meaningful, real-world problems. One major application will be the simulation of complex chemical reactions, a powerful tool that creates new avenues in drug development. Quantum chemistry calculations will also aid the design of novel materials with desired properties, for instance better catalysts for the automotive industry that lower emissions and help fight climate change.

5G-enabled Mobility

The COVID-19 crisis has moved businesses and classrooms to video conferencing, highlighting poor-quality networks. Low latency 5G networks would resolve this lack of network reliability and even allow for more high-capacity services like telehealth, telesurgery and ER services. Businesses can offset the high cost of mobility with economy-boosting activities including smart factories, real-time monitoring, and content-intensive, real-time edge-compute services.

Personalized Healthcare

By 2025, engineering biology and machine learning will establish a framework for decentralizing healthcare, moving it from institutions to the individual. Medicine has always been on a quest to gather more knowledge and understanding of human biology for better clinical decision-making. AI will enable us to extract more insights at an unprecedented level from all the medical ‘big data’ that has never really been fully taken advantage of in the past. It will shift the world of medicine and how it is practiced.

Carbon-free Industries

Over the next five years, carbon-heavy industries will use machine learning and AI technology to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint. Climate change, regulatory pressure, and market volatility are pushing these industries to adjust. As a result of increasing digital transformation, carbon-heavy sectors will be able to utilize advanced technologies, like AI and machine learning, using real-time, high-fidelity data from billions of connected devices to efficiently and proactively reduce harmful emissions and decrease carbon footprints.

Privacy is Pervasive

Despite the accelerating regulatory environments, we are now just seeing the tip of the privacy iceberg, both from a regulatory and consumer standpoint. Five years from now, privacy and data-centric security will have reached commodity status – and the ability for consumers to protect and control sensitive data assets will be viewed as the rule rather than the exception. As awareness and understanding continue to build, so will the prevalence of privacy preserving and enhancing capabilities, known as privacy-enhancing technologies (PET).

Businesses Need Future Cybersecurity Leaders

These technologies will have huge benefits for many companies, but they will also create new security challenges. We have already seen that criminals are eager to adopt emerging technologies to launch highly sophisticated attacks. Cyberattacks have become a common hazard for individuals and businesses. The World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2020 ranks cyber-attacks as the seventh most likely and eighth most impactful risk, and the second most concerning risk for doing business globally over the next 10 years. 5G networks, quantum computing and AI are creating not only opportunities but also new threats.

The proliferation of disruptive technologies has created an expanded digital footprint for businesses. Although these technologies have created amazing new organizational capabilities, they have also created new complexities, interconnections, and vulnerability points which cyber criminals have quickly learned to exploit. Traditional perimeter and rules-based approaches to cyber security no longer apply to the new digital organization since users are now accessing the organization’s most sensitive resources remotely and beyond the traditional perimeter security.

What businesses need right now are talented, experienced, and knowledgeable employees that understand both the potential and the risks associated with emerging technology. As technology becomes more fabricated into business processes, these experts can lead the challenge of making cybersecurity awareness and safety an enabler of business success.

Will You Be the Future Cybersecurity Leader?

The business need for talented people represents a great opportunity for cybersecurity professionals like you. But the future security leaders need a broad set of skills that job experience alone does not arm you with. You will need to invest in training to acquire these skills to build a solid foundation, feel self-confident and make an impact in your organization. Learning can get you the technical and soft skills required to be a great leader.

The World Economic Forum concurs: “Across nearly all industries, the impact of technological and other changes is shortening the shelf-life of employees’ existing skill sets. The talent to manage, shape and lead the changes underway will be in short supply unless we take action today to develop it.”

The role of future cybersecurity leaders is to support the mission of their organization by ensuring that cyber risks are managed at an acceptable level. Since no enterprise is immune to cyber threats, organizations need to be prepared for when a breach happens. The end goal of every organization should be resilience, the ability to identify and minimize the impact of an incident to allow business continuity as effectively as possible.

How CISSP Helps

Security certifications are a token of proof of your expertise and knowledge. Among all certifications available in the market, the (ISC)² Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification is the one that can provide you with the knowledge and the skills required to perform any cybersecurity role effectively and link your knowledge back to the business needs. CISSP can help you become the next cybersecurity leader.

Earning the CISSP certification comes with many benefits, such as boosting your career and creating more opportunities, acquiring a versatile and fundamental knowledge of cybersecurity, building self-confidence, and gaining respect and recognition from your peers and your employers.

The CISSP is recognized as a gold standard for cybersecurity professionals. The CISSP is ideal for experienced security practitioners, managers and executives interested in proving their knowledge across a wide array of security practices and principles, including those in the positions of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), Director of Security, Security Systems Engineer, Security Analyst, Security Manager, and Security Consultant.

(ISC)² is the leader in security certifications and is acknowledged by companies worldwide. (ISC)² can help you discover the right path, create your plan, and thrive throughout your career. To learn more, go to https://www.isc2.org/cissp-strong or read our Why It Has Never Been More Important To Be A Q Qualified Cybersecurity Professional Whitepaper .