How can you measure the success of a cybersecurity transformation?

1 Security maturity level

One way to measure the success of a cybersecurity transformation is to assess the security maturity level of your organization. Security maturity refers to how well your organization can identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cyberattacks, as well as how it can continuously improve its security processes and performance. There are various frameworks and models that can help you measure your security maturity, such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the ISO/IEC 27001 standard, or the CMMI Cybermaturity Platform. By using these frameworks, you can benchmark your current state, identify gaps and weaknesses, set goals and priorities, and track your improvement over time.

2 Security risk exposure

Another way to measure the success of a cybersecurity transformation is to evaluate the security risk exposure of your organization. Security risk exposure refers to the potential impact and likelihood of cyberattacks on your organization's assets, operations, reputation, and compliance. By conducting regular security risk assessments, you can identify and quantify the vulnerabilities and threats that affect your organization, and prioritize the mitigation and remediation actions. You can also use security risk metrics, such as the number and severity of incidents, the time to detect and contain breaches, the cost of recovery and remediation, or the compliance status and fines, to measure and communicate the effectiveness and efficiency of your security controls and response.

4 Security innovation and agility

A fourth way to measure the success of a cybersecurity transformation is to gauge the security innovation and agility of your organization. Security innovation and agility refer to how your organization can leverage the latest technologies and tools, such as cloud, artificial intelligence, automation, or blockchain, to enhance its security capabilities and performance. By adopting a security-by-design and security-by-default approach, you can integrate security into your development and delivery processes, reduce complexity and costs, increase speed and scalability, and enable new business opportunities and value propositions. You can measure and demonstrate your security innovation and agility by using metrics such as the time to market, the return on investment, the customer satisfaction, or the competitive advantage.

5 Security alignment and value

A fifth way to measure the success of a cybersecurity transformation is to verify the security alignment and value of your organization. Security alignment and value refer to how your security strategy and initiatives support and enable your business objectives and outcomes. By aligning your security vision, mission, and goals with your business strategy, you can ensure that your security investments and activities are relevant, justified, and prioritized. By communicating and showcasing the business value of your security efforts, you can increase the awareness and appreciation of your stakeholders, and demonstrate the contribution and impact of your security function. You can measure and report your security alignment and value by using metrics such as the revenue growth, the cost savings, the customer retention, or the brand reputation.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?