From the Influencers 

"It's unfortunate to see the Met Police budget being impacted at a time where acquiring cybersecurity skills is of utmost importance. The most important aspect would be for the police force to have the right people with the required skillset on the force. Where this is not possible, then it should look at expanding its collaboration efforts to draw on cybersecurity expertise from the private sector."

Javvad Malik, security advocate at AlienVault, on the announcement that the UK's Metropolitan police force is facing budget cuts, impacting its cybersecurity efforts

"Leaving the back door to encrypted messages ajar for malicious actors places businesses at even further risk for hacking attempts, and places sensitive information and intellectual property in danger amidst fears of growing industrial espionage, in particular for companies from the pharmaceutical, automotive and industrial sectors."

Alan Duric, CTO, COO and co-founder of Wire, on the latest proposals for backdoors on encrypted communications

"DDoS attacks can be easily hired on the Dark Web for very small dollar amounts, while payment in crypto-currencies make them virtually uninvestigatable. Anyone can be behind it, from a disgruntled employee, unhappy customer or even a DDoS-for-hire service making this type of 'ad' on a live website simply to demonstrate their capacities."

Ilia Kolochenko, CEO of High-Tech Bridge, on the news that the Bank of Spain was hit by a Cyberattack in August

"The unprecedented sophistication that organised bad actors now use to commit fraud is certainly daunting, and their exploits are conducted at levels that the average customer cannot defend against. Account holders look to their institutions and merchants as partners in secure shopping."

Robert Capps, vice president at NuData Security, a Mastercard company, on the announcement by Britain's financial ombudsman that banks should not assume customers have been negligent if they fall for online scams

"It is a mistake to believe that the Russian government is a partisan political actor; it is not. Vladimir Putin uses cyber operations to promote those who support his political agenda and undermine those who do not. This includes people and organisations on both sides of the political aisle."

Priscilla Moriuchi, Director of Strategic Threat Development, Recorded Future, on the recent intiative by Microsoft to provide free cybersecurity protection to federal, state and local politicians