What is the most effective way to promote cybersecurity awareness among senior management?

- In my experience as a Commander & Cabinet member (State EMA), I treated our networks as Major Weapons Systems and talked about them in that manner. Our networks are critical in the Military and Emergency Management and if we can’t communicate, people die. Therefore, I instituted mandatory annual & monthly cyber training while actively attacking our organizations and employees weekly to test their ability to protect our networks. We tracked failures and had policies that started with cyber security retraining and admin, but could result in punishment and ultimately removal. I treated cyber security as important and held people accountable. If employees can’t protect critical networks, then they have lost the privilege of employment.

In my past experiences, when discussion with customer and specially senior manager, I try clearly to tie cybersecurity priorities and investments to strategic business goals around growing revenue, improving efficiency, reducing costs, and managing business risk. Provide real examples of how breaches harm companies' abilities to compete, innovate, and operate reliably ( like not respecting GDPR, or having BCP, ..etc.) Position security as an enabler, not an obstacle, to key objectives.

Cybersecurity within an organization is a supporting function. It exists to help the organization to become successful. Align the Cybersecurity initiative towards your organization’s objectives and work as a team. The direction of your organization shall dictate the cybersecurity strategy and not the other way around. Communication with your business stakeholders and make sure to understand what they need from you. You are there to help them. You are there to lead the way from a security point of view. And this can only be accomplished if you know what your organization needs from you. Communicate, listen and engage. Security is a team sport, make sure to establish that team together with your executive leaders.

Conduct regular executive briefings and workshops specifically focused on cybersecurity. Tailor the content to address the concerns and responsibilities of senior management. Highlight the business impact of cyber threats, emphasizing the potential financial losses, damage to reputation, and legal consequences.

An additional business advantage of cybersecurity is the clear signal it sends about the company's commitment to safeguarding its own data and that of its customers. So beyond enabling innovation, robust cybersecurity can assist with staying competitive.

Consider starting with the simple fact that the cybersecurity leader is responsible for providing risk awareness to the org - then acknowledge that no matter how seasoned the cyber leader is, they likely do not know every part of the biz as good as the various leaders / managers do. ASK THEM FOR HELP! Use your cyber understanding to ask probing questions about their products, software, services - when you find something that may contain risk - partner with the leaders to build a business case with mitigation plans (and the $$ required) and present it as a united front. This partnership often fosters deeper, trusting relationships, strengthens communication and ultimately better overall security.

One thing that has always helped me when I need to brief cybersecurity to senior management is utilizing analogies that align with either the product or service being provided by the organization. This lets the senior management know that you understand what the organization’s business plan is, that you have buy-in for that product or service, and you’re placing cybersecurity as a top priority to protect the organization. If that does not get the point across, I suggest using physical security analogies to show them the similarities between the two types of security.

With Senior management, you must avoid technical jargon in conversations. Focus communication on cyber risks relevant to their business model using financial, legal, compliance and reputation impact metrics. I always provided personalized, concrete examples of security incidents rather than vague statistics.

Comunicar la ciberseguridad en términos sencillos y relevantes es esencial para abordar la falta de experiencia en protección de datos entre nuestros trabajadores y jefaturas. Para simplificar este tema, proponemos implementar conversatorios, mini cápsulas de videos y campa?as centradas en la seguridad y protección de datos. Al involucrar a toda la empresa, incluida la dirección empresarial, y compartir nuestras experiencias como informáticos, buscamos fomentar las buenas prácticas de ciberseguridad de manera accesible y efectiva.

Una buena practica es organizar sesiones de capacitación interactivas que simulan situaciones de riesgo, brindando a los usuarios la oportunidad de practicar cómo responder a posibles amenazas cibernéticas.

There is a common assumption that the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) bears the responsibility for cybersecurity awareness and communication. However, when business leaders actively participate or take the lead in these initiatives in collaboration with the CISO, they tend to be more impactful and seamlessly integrate into day-to-day operations.

I always asked CISO to involve leadership directly through briefings, simulated phishing tests aimed at executives, and cyber crisis incident response planning sessions and simulations. Make them active participants, not just passive recipients of cybersecurity information from technical staff.

Involucrar a la alta dirección en actividades de ciberseguridad suele ser el desafío más complejo, ya que en muchas empresas las altas direcciones muestran resistencia o son reticentes a participar en las mejoras de los entornos digitales de manera directa, algo que he observado en varias ocasiones. Sin embargo, abordo esta situación mediante la organización de charlas y capacitaciones. También, invito a la comunidad laboral a conocer estos aspectos de manera más amigable, teniendo en cuenta que en ocasiones no comprenden o piensan que estamos hablando en un lenguaje técnico incomprensible. La idea principal es acercar esta información a todos los trabajadores para promover un ambiente laboral seguro.

Showing by example the transversal aspect of security, in terms of impact, responsibility and solution is a great way to make each Direction engaged and accountable. This is true in the protection but also in the incident response

Offer dedicated support resources for executives such as CISO advisory services, third-party risk assessments, and cybersecurity assistance. Clearly define leadership's responsibilities around data security, appropriate use policies, managing third party risks, and incident response. Always give them the tools and guidance needed to fulfill these duties.

Recognizing that senior leaders may not always possess an in-depth understanding of cybersecurity, providing them with tailored guidance and support is crucial. This involves offering accessible resources, such as regular briefings or workshops, to enhance their awareness of current cyber threats and best practices. Establishing clear channels for questions and concerns ensures an ongoing dialogue and an environment where senior management feels comfortable seeking guidance on cybersecurity matters. Collaborating with cybersecurity experts to offer personalized advice and solutions that align with the organization's specific needs further strengthens the relationship between leadership and the cybersecurity function.

Enabling the co-design of the (cyber)security profile (NIST based) in multi-stakeholder workshops contributes to align the challenges while it fosters mutual accountability across the organisation, and at different responsibility layer

Australia has seen some major cyber breaches in the last 24 months, big breaches for major organisations and govt departments making national and international headlines. We should be learning from these! I feel cyber is not being taken seriously enough yet. I’d suggest getting the execs and directors involved in the cyber audits and assessment’s would be a good step. Not just showing them the results but actually Showing them how the identified security vulnerabilities in those assessments can be exploited, and have been exploited in known major breaches. It’s very simple to understand, if there are security vulnerabilities, they need to be remedied, if they’re not then we’ll be making big headlines too.

Utilize audit findings to drive the point home regarding appropriate funding of security tools, resources etc. Also drive home the 4 C's exec management need to consider when evaluating the risk-based audit plan...compliance, cybersecurity, culture and competitiveness.

The keys are framing cybersecurity as a business priority, avoiding unneeded complexity in communications, directly involving leadership in security activities, and equipping them with the guidance necessary to manage security governance responsibilities. Ongoing engagement and dialogue are essential.

Comparing the organization's cyber security posture with peers will help senior management understand where they stand in terms of cybersecurity in the market and against the competition. It helps them make informed decisions about resource allocation, prioritize cybersecurity initiatives, and provide insight if the organization need to upscale or they are excelling in comparison to similar organizations in the industry.

La IA tendrá un factor fundamental en la Cyberseguridad depediendo de quien tenga el poder de usar esta, ?Sera necesario regular el uso de la IA a nivel global?