With the increase in the digital footprint worldwide, we are threatened by incidences of cyber attacks. For a holistic growth of the organization, future leaders should recognize cyber resilience at the board level and take the necessary steps to rectify the organization’s weakness. As the result of rapidly growing cyber threats, it is clear that boards have to create more efficient governing policies for ensuring cyber security. Therefore, it is the work of the corporate director boards to build a resilient management system that can withstand cyber risks. Let’s dive in here to understand the cyber resilience at board level weakness or strength and the challenges when we deal with it.
Cyber Resilience at Board Level Weakness or Strengthens an Organization?
The most common issue we face is the lack of accountability and awareness around cyber resilience at the board level. Even though cyber-attacks rank fourth among the global risks from the report released by World Economic Forum, many refuse to understand the seriousness of the issue. There is a pressing need for business leaders to understand the gravity of the situation and contribute their part in countering cyber risks.
Another reason for board-level weakness at cyber resilience is the development of new technologies, essentially opening the floodgates for new forms of cyberattacks.
Why do We Need Cyber Resilience?
Cyber security and cyber resilience may seem synonymous, but they are not interchangeable. Cyber security is the set of activities that prevents criminal or unauthorized access to devices and networks. Cyber security is about ensuring security for our data, but cyber resilience is more like an umbrella term that includes so many things.
Cyber resilience identifies possible vulnerabilities, patching the plot holes in technology, mitigating threats, and equipping employees to tackle any potential cyber-attacks. Resilience essentially means being resourceful enough to withstand any data privacy breach or any advanced malware. In other words, it is the ability to maintain business outcomes despite many adverse cyber events sustainably. The weakness in cyber resilience proves detrimental to the organization in the long run.
How can Boards Implement Cyber Resilience?
Every business sees different cyber attacks as they employ different technologies and processes. To increase the resilience of the cyber networks, the boards need to use various principles. Some of the principles are listed below:
1. Strategic business policy
Cyber attacks are persistently evolving as there are numerous innovations in technologies worldwide. Other than viewing cyber attacks from the customer experience, we can make them a brand value for the organization. Investing in cyber resilience would never go to waste as digital age people are ready to invest in anything that protects their data and privacy.
Creating a brand value from cyber resilience also boosts employee morale and abilities. You can employ some of the top minds to ensure cyber security if it’s part of your company’s core values. Even if a business benefits from it, then the end-user will as well, impacting a company’s growth and profitability.
2. Understanding the impact of cyber events
Most organizations run risk analyses based on finances and digital disruptions, but they hardly count on the cyber risks. The more we ignore the risks posed by these cyber events, the possibility of running into a failure also increases. Just one rumor of your successful app being hacked can bring your business down the line. Customers stop downloading the app, and they spread the word very soon as data is the newfound currency for everyone. That’s the potential cyber-attacks can have on your business. So, keeping this in mind, think of how you can fight the possible cyber risks.
3. Align cyber risks with business objectives
Any new principle needs to be aligned with the business objective for effective decision making, management, and appraisal. After finding out how to treat the cyber risks, we need to build a security profile that aligns with the business needs. In this issue, effective governance of the board requires the proper coordination between the business management and cyber security teams.
4. Enhancing organizational design
Businesses should have internal governance centered around cyber issues on an enterprise-wide basis. We need to mention clear authority, ownership, and KPIs among all stakeholders for critical risk management and mitigation.
5. Recruit a security expertise
There is always someone who knows better than us. So, don’t hesitate to ask for consultations and services from the external agency. Including third parties who are cyber security experts can help us discover the blindspots we often miss. Also, the board directors must keep on learning the evolving cyber risks to get a thorough knowledge out of it.
6. Systemic collaboration and resilience
Collective action and collaboration are essentials for success in any sphere of life. So, we need to build a network and support each other to counter and mitigate future cyber attacks. The interconnection of the organizations can help reduce the incidence of cyber risks.
Board Level Cyber Resilience Cons and Pros
- It boosts the brand image and accelerates the growth of business
- It creates a network of companies that can support each other through thick and thin
- It helps in proactive planning cyber-attacks, which can threaten people’s privacy
This was our take on the context of Cyber resilience at board level weakness or strength- let us know what you feel about it!
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