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MORGANTOWN, West Virginia December 4, 2024 — As the world braces almost daily for news of a potential data breach in the private or public sector, the CEO of a widely recognized IT company warns that should never be something we all just take in stride.
“We should never get used to hearing about data breaches,” Trilogy Innovations CEO Brandon Downey recently told a group of students at West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. “When we get used to these kinds of things, we get lazy.”
Downey, who co-founded the company whose expertise includes cybersecurity, spoke to the Statler College’s Engineering for Social Impact class, primarily comprised of students with majors, minors, and strong interests in computer engineering, cybersecurity, and computer science.
“The top three data threats in the world right now are phishing, ransomware attacks, and cloud vulnerabilities,” Downey explained. “Statistics show us that 37% of customer incidents were phishing. And cloud vulnerabilities are of particular interest because we will see the cloud computing market surpassing $1 trillion by 2028.”
An SBA Certified 8(a) small and minority-owned systems and software engineering company, Trilogy provides cybersecurity and other IT services to customers in both the private and public sectors. Trilogy has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as the fastest-growing IT Services company in West Virginia for three consecutive years and was named the state’s fastest-growing overall company in both 2022 and 2023.
Downey, who earned multiple degrees at WVU and once sat in the classrooms of the Statler College as a student, emphasized that he was not simply presenting problems without solutions. Nonetheless, he said, the presence of data breaches and cybercrime are undeniable.
“Global cybercrime damage is predicted to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, and it was $3 billion in 2015. Global cybersecurity spending is at $1.75 trillion and is expected to grow at a rate of 15% year over year. Those numbers tell you this is a real problem, and we have to get stronger in the fight,” said Downey.
He added that global ransomware damage is expected to exceed $265 billion by 2031. In 2021, businesses were victimized by a ransomware attack every 11 seconds, and that frequency is anticipated to increase to every two seconds by 2031.
“We have to look at these challenges, know what we’re fighting, and continue to strengthen our commitment to combatting cybercrime. Solutions that have had the most traction are blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML). Emerging trends are XDR and cloud security, and the top strategy to fight tactics of cyber criminals is a strong password policy,” said Downey.
For these students who are looking to jump into the job market, the CEO said there is plenty of opportunity out there.
“There were 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide in 2024 and 500,000 of those jobs are in the U.S.,” said Downey. “These opportunities have also brought about increased diversity, as women are predicted to hold 30% of all cyber jobs by 2025. The opportunity for a challenging and fulfilling career is right there within your reach.”
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About Trilogy Innovations, Inc.
Trilogy Innovations, Inc., located in Bridgeport and Morgantown, West Virginia, is an SBA Certified 8(a) small and minority-owned systems and software engineering company that delivers superior technical solutions for a variety of industries across private and public sectors. By applying a strong work ethic and an unwavering commitment to excellence, Trilogy’s highly skilled and talented personnel have successfully applied these core values across a multitude of government agencies and businesses. Inc. Magazine has named Trilogy the fastest-growing IT services company in West Virginia for three consecutive years, and in 2022 and 2023 recognized Trilogy as the overall fastest-growing company in the state.
Contact
Patrick Gregg, Executive Communications
304.365.4670
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