Our industry is more relevant than ever

With world leaders admitting cyber-terrorism is one of their biggest growing concerns, the value of good IT advice is evermore crucial

I, like everyone else I know have been horrified to watch the events of Paris unfold over the past few days.

As a journalist, the freedom of speech is paramount, and for journalists to be targeted specifically is a worrying turn of events.

But as the threat of Islamic State continues, and with the most recent alleged hacking of the US military's Twitter and YouTube accounts by ISIS, more and more attention is drawn to the crucial role IT security plays in everyday life.

Indeed on the news last night, cyber-terrorism was described as the new frontline - several times by journalists.

Not just by ISIS, but the Sony/North Korea episode was also a sign of things to come. It is everywhere.

Of course, our friends at the nationals tend to exaggerate their reports for dramatic effect and to incite a sense of panic into people tuning into their reports, but they do have a very valid point.

In these times, the network is indeed the first point of defence against those that wish to steal data from companies or inflict some kind of damage on the business. And if that defence is weak or non-existent, then they have already won the battle.

While a dry-cleaning firm in Derby might not hold any national secrets on its database, the data is does hold is still vitally important to the management of that firm, and every md in the land is going to be increasingly aware of the threats to their business if they have an online presence.

I really don't think the 'It won't happen to me' mentality works anymore. Everyone has to assume they are a legitimate target.

Of course, the big retailers, supermarkets and IT firms have all hit the headlines over recent years with various data breaches, but this is serious business, and hackers are getting ever more complex, and most certainly more malicious.

Demand for security experts, indeed any IT experts that provide honest, value-for-money and straightforward advice on how firms of all sizes can protect their valued customer data, is going to go through the roof.

There is never a more important time to be a trusted IT advisor.