Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important function within organisations, because the risk of not being prepared for an attack is now too high. Not only is there a higher likelihood of certain types of cyber attacks, but these types of threats are now seen as the most important risk by many companies globally. In addition, governments are increasingly penalising companies who do not comply with cybersecurity regulations or who do not put systems in place to protect customer and employee data.
As such, it’s important that senior leadership within companies give cybersecurity a central role in business strategy development.
Senior management is stepping up
The good news is that leadership within many companies is starting to take the risk more seriously. According to a recent survey 56% of security experts believe their top management is focusing more on cyber security than in the previous year. More companies are also investing in cybersecurity, with global spending expected to increase by over 11% in 2023 and reach $188bn.
Executive leadership in this area is likely to become even more important in future as more at the C-level will have cybersecurity risk performance requirements. And already, some countries such as the US, are requiring companies to declare whether board members have any cybersecurity expertise, as this could impact investor decision-making.
All this means that increasingly, leadership and board members will be expected to have some level of cybersecurity knowledge and those who have actual experience in the space will likely be sought after. And for those who don’t, either more education in this area will be needed, or cybersecurity teams will need to have a seat at the table to be able to fully advise on and discuss the potential security challenges the company might face and how to tackle them.
In all scenarios, companies are generally taking steps in the right direction to tackle cybersecurity challenges. And, as these threats continue to evolve rapidly, the role of the cybersecurity professional is going to become invaluable as leadership will continue to be held accountable for any serious cyber attacks or data breaches in future.