How can you avoid security awareness mistakes from lack of executive buy-in?

To avoid security awareness mistakes due to a lack of executive buy-in, emphasize the value proposition succinctly. Link security awareness to organizational goals, showcasing its role in risk mitigation, regulatory compliance, and cost savings in incident response. Stress the protection of the brand and reputation, underlining how a security-aware workforce provides a competitive advantage in today's threat landscape.

Um dos maiores erros no que tange seguran?a é esperar que aqueles envolvidos no processo se conscientizem sobre o risco envolvido nos processo. A primeira lideran?a e todo o resto envolvido DEVE estar bem alinhada com esta proposta, mostrando no cotidiano o qu?o importante é estar empenhado na seguran?a. Visita às opera??es, sempre se portando de forma acertiva é um dos passos para gerar uma cultura de seguran?a. Afinal, a mudan?a se faz pelo exemplo

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In my experience, a great way to do this is by creating a stakeholder engagement action plan. I always come back to this, because it will be your secret toolkit to get buy in from your stakeholders, both internal and external. When it comes to executive leadership, you need to understand their business performance challenges and the risks associated. Once you understand the issues they are dealing with, than you can analyse how cyber security awareness program is linked to those business performance challenges, and how it will help reduce the risk. Start with the end in mind, their desired outcome and then show the gap from where they are and the risk it the gap represents. Cyber security awareness is the business' nervous system.

Executives, often with limited time and attention, find cybersecurity complex and irrelevant to their roles. It’s hard for people to get excited about something they don’t know or don’t feel relevant. Simplify it by introducing a Security Index at the business unit level, incorporating metrics like Security awareness course completion and Endpoint compliance percentages for the SBU. Regularly publish this SBU index, highlighting trends, and discuss it with leadership teams for increased attention and accountability. When its relevant, simple, actionable and regularly pushed you will find that most executives will get behind to support the initiative.

It is all about managing the (people)risk. If they don’t want to be involved, let them sign a risk waiver where is clearly stated that lack of leadership will result in a very high risk (high chance, high impact) where data breaches or outage is likely to happen. Also a good serious crisis management testing exercise could be useful to get their eyes opened!

Il faut commencer par impliquer activement les cadres dans la sensibilisation à la sécurité. Leur soutien renforce la culture de sécurité, montrant ainsi l'importance de la protection des données.

Part of your stakeholder engagement action plan is the engagement part. Once you understand your stakeholders - in this case your executive leadership team you are trying to get buy in - you can tailor the different security awareness initiatives to their map of the world. Some executives may be satisfied with weekly newsletter and reflection prompts, they don't have time or are not interested in gamification training. Some executives may be your ambassador and love to go deeper into the training and campaign. Use them as your change agents for their peers. Others are satisfied with integrating it in weekly meetings or through a mobile app they can use when travelling. Make it easier and fun for them to participate.

I would say executive buy-in is a key requirement for any awareness program and if they are not taking it seriously then the program is doomed for failure. Either find a C-level executive that is willing to back the program and maybe the team is not communicating the value of the program effectively. Executive buy-in is not an option but a necessity

To prevent security awareness mistakes stemming from a lack of executive support, effectively communicate risks, align with business objectives, quantify ROI, engage executives actively, benchmark against peers, tailor messaging, use real-life examples, emphasize compliance, provide regular reporting, and foster a culture of shared responsibility.

Get the Communication and Marketing department involved. They are the experts in this field. You feed the info/content, they manage the process. Get the executives involved to claim that departments time.

Part of your stakeholder engagement action plan is your communication strategy. Not everyone will process information in the same way and at the same frequency levels. So understanding reporting requirements and needs are essential for maintaining open dialogue and communication channels. Understand who are your communication ambassadors, security teams or reps are not always the best suited for communicating cyber risk. Use people who already have established trust with the executive leadership team. The more trust and confidence they have, the easier their buy in will be.

To avoid security awareness mistakes stemming from a lack of executive buy-in, establish a clear communication strategy. Clearly articulate how security awareness aligns with overall business objectives and risk mitigation. Connect security efforts to tangible business benefits to gain executive support. Create a compelling business case highlighting the potential financial and reputational risks of inadequate security awareness. Use data and examples relevant to your industry to emphasize the importance. By consistently communicating the value of security awareness in terms that resonate with executives and demonstrating the positive impact of the program, you can build and maintain executive buy-in over the long term.

Make continuously sure that all propositions are connected to the goals, objectives, mission and vision of the organization. Then security is not a separate topic anymore, but part of a critical approach of running the business.

Just as you use red teams for detecting cyber vulnerabilities, set up a read team to challenge your assumptions and messaging. Make sure they are aware of the executive leadership's team agendas, concerns, challenges and risks so that they can ask the right question. From an emotional intelligence perspective, this will feel uncomfortable but you can train yourself to not feel triggered and respond with clarity and confidence. The more you stay calm when challenged, the greater confidence in your abilities and your security awareness program you will build.

Phishing campaigns are a great way to identify gaps in security awareness, so you can identify areas for improvement, and target training resources appropriately as needed.

This is key, because when you use case studies it makes it all the more real in people's mind. It is no longer an abstract phenomena that may or may not happen, but there is real time data that shows the alternative of not investing in a cyber security awareness program.

It is not only about not clicking on links or reacting to phishing. It should be a way of safe working and/or information handling. It is not only IT, but it involves the whole business. Let HR - from exec directive order - leading that culture change program!