Why aligning cyber security to strategy is the trillion-dollar question
Digital transformation is rising to the top of the agenda everywhere. Spending on digital transformation technologies and services is set to hit US$2.8 trillion by 2025, as companies look to unlock operational efficiencies, deliver new sources of customer value and position themselves for long-term success in a rapidly evolving business environment.
In this context, it’s clear that the need for close alignment between cyber security and the overall business strategy has never been greater. Entire business models across a wide range of sectors now rely on digital capabilities, and disruption or data loss have the potential to unleash huge financial, reputational and regulatory damage.
How CISOs are underestimating the security risks
At Northdoor, everything we’ve learned from decades of high-profile breaches teaches us that it’s a mistake to underestimate the importance of cross-functional collaboration in mitigating cyber risk. However, the VMware CISOS report 2022 reveals that just 30.5% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and CISO-equivalent respondents consider better alignment with the business a top priority.
So what can your business do to better align cyber security with strategy, and mitigate the risk of becoming the next cautionary tale or front-page horror story?
Improving strategic communication
Every organisation is different—but although individual processes, systems and digital transformation journeys vary, some universal best practices stand out. One of the most important—and effective—ways to increase strategic and cyber security alignment is to create open lines of communication between executives and IT, as well as between security and business leaders on the senior management team.
This communication must go two ways. From their camp, security specialists must begin a continuous dialogue to explain the possible business impacts of breaches. And from their side, IT must be ready to drill down into the business strategy, so they can shape an approach to security that helps the organisation to deliver on the key pillars.
How to achieve alignment between cyber security and business teams
One crucial concept is the fact that cyber security is a moving target, not a project with fixed goals and a completion date. By working side by side, security and the business teams can help one another identify risks and decide whether they can be mitigated, accepted or deferred.
So what does good alignment between business and security strategies look like? For most companies, this implies a solid continuity capability to ensure maximum availability for key digital systems, an incident-response plan with well-defined steps, roles and responsibilities, and recurrent training and reminders to help employees stay safe.
Why a managed service is the best way to reduce cyber risk
For large enterprises, it’s relatively straightforward to assign the necessary resources and build a well-oiled cyber security capability. But for small- and medium-sized enterprises, finding time, people, internal expertise and budget to spare can be a tough challenge.
The good news is that Northdoor now offers cyber security as a fully managed service, infused through your entire business from your core systems out to your integrations with external trading partners. Building on decades of experience, Northdoor experts take the time to understand your unique business strategy and design a tailored approach to cyber security that addresses your requirements cost-effectively.
Northdoor experts take the time to understand your unique business strategy and design a tailored approach to cyber security that addresses your requirements cost-effectively. Share on XNorthdoor can handle as much or as little as you need: from infrastructure management and endpoint monitoring to continuous vulnerability scanning and supply-chain risk assessments and everything in between. We can even help you to cut the risk of data breaches by sending real-time alerts to employees the moment they’re exposed to advanced phishing threats.
Learn how Northdoor can help enhance and align your cyber strategy with the needs of the business. Leave us a message or call us on 020 7448 8500 to arrange a free initial consultation.
