Your colleagues are focused on business growth. How do you ensure security measures aren't compromised?

First and foremost - organizations must have a security balanced scorecard. This should be created in alignment with business priorities, threat modeling and considering security as a key business enabler. Metrics must be chosen that are pragmatic, impactful and SMART. You cannot manage what you cannot measure.

Aligning security goals with business growth is crucial. Engage with stakeholders to understand their objectives and show how strong security supports sustainable expansion. Make security integral to business development, fostering a culture where every team member sees their role in protecting the organization’s digital assets.

Implementation of control processes. Recurring monitoring and evaluation, scanning and security audit. Awareness of employees and managers

Align Security with Business Goals: Ensure that security initiatives support business objectives. Communicate how strong security measures can enhance trust, protect intellectual property, and ultimately contribute to business growth. Executive Buy-In: Gain support from top management by demonstrating the value of security investments in terms of risk reduction and long-term cost savings. 2. Implement a Risk-Based Approach: Risk Assessment: Conduct regular risk assessments to identify and prioritize security risks based on their potential impact on business operations. Risk Mitigation: Implement risk mitigation strategies that align with the business's risk tolerance and growth objectives. 3. Adopt Security by Design:

At the e-commerce company I worked for, continuous security training was provided to reduce vulnerabilities and protect customer information, even during periods of rapid growth. The security team informed employees about current threats and best practices. Additionally, regular security audits and penetration tests were conducted to identify and address potential weaknesses.

Educating colleagues on cybersecurity is vital. Conduct regular training on emerging threats and best practices to foster a culture of continuous learning. Empowering your team to recognize and respond to security issues strengthens overall protection and promotes a shared responsibility for safeguarding company assets.

Educating colleagues about cybersecurity is crucial. Offer regular training sessions to highlight the latest threats and best practices for preventing breaches. By fostering continuous learning, you empower the team to recognize and respond to potential security issues swiftly, protecting company assets and instilling a sense of collective responsibility.

When our colleagues are well-informed about cybersecurity, they are more likely to adopt secure practices and recognize potential threats. This collective vigilance supports robust security without hindering business initiatives. Also, educated employees can handle many routine security tasks and avoid common pitfalls, reducing the burden on security teams. A well-educated team in place ensures that security measures scale appropriately, allowing for expansion into new markets or technologies with confidence.

Risk assessments uncover potential cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities related to new business initiatives.By understanding the risks associated with new ventures, businesses can make informed decisions about which opportunities to pursue and how to structure their approach to minimize potential security issues. Risk assessments also ensure that new business initiatives comply with relevant industry regulations and standards. In addition, demonstrating a thorough understanding of cybersecurity risks and implementing effective measures builds confidence among investors, partners, and stakeholders. This trust is essential for gaining support and securing funding or collaboration opportunities for new business goals.

Security team has to be involved from the planning phase of any new initiative or venture to ensure proper risk assessment, risk evaluation happened and adequate controls are in place for any gap found in current state and desired state. This will help business grow while ensuring company’s overall risk is below the tolerance level.

Risk assessment is crucial for securing business growth. Identify and evaluate risks associated with new technologies, markets, and partnerships. Tailor your cybersecurity strategies to address these vulnerabilities, ensuring that as your company expands, its defenses are robust and adaptive.

At the e-commerce company I worked for, risk assessments were conducted before engaging with new suppliers. The security protocols and data handling policies of the suppliers were reviewed, and potential weaknesses were identified. These assessments helped to detect security gaps in the supply chain in advance and protect customer information.

At the core of any cyber activity should be a map of risks. What are we trying to protect. - begin with the business in mind - understand the journey they are on - ask them about their "worst nightmares" - understand the regulatory context - solution and tailor security to be embedded - threat model the journey through the system - pre think and set goals rather than apply "blanket" solutions This last point is crucial. Once we have modelled our risk we can start our cyber journey with the foundations in place and win confidence from the business.

Secure integration is crucial when adopting new technologies or processes to support growth. Collaborate closely with developers and IT teams to implement security controls from the onset. This proactive approach minimizes vulnerabilities and reduces the likelihood of future security incidents, ensuring that security is built in from the beginning rather than retrofitted later.

Le concept de Security by Design doit être appliqué et il important de responsabiliser les développeurs et ingénieurs de système.

Secure integration is vital for business growth. Collaborate with developers and IT teams to embed security controls from the start. This proactive approach reduces vulnerabilities and prevents future security issues. It's more effective to incorporate security measures early on rather than trying to fix them later.

At the e-commerce company I work for, security measures were taken into account from the beginning during the transition to a cloud-based CRM system. SSL/TLS encryption was used during data transfer and the cloud service provider's security certificates and policies were carefully reviewed. This enabled customer information to be moved securely to the cloud.

Implementation sometimes is the easy bit and the most optical too. Its obvious a solution is in and ready. BUT - not investing in the long-tail and the continuous monitoring is akin to taking off and then not monitoring a flight for deviation and critical inputs on the journey. I see so much opportunity to drive value and ROI in this aspect of cyber. And I am not referring to just a SOC to monitor. We need to monitor our risks, user behaviour, growth plans and the whole context. That's smart cyber!

Continuous monitoring is essential for real-time threat detection. Use advanced tools to analyze patterns and identify anomalies that might signal security breaches. Vigilant oversight helps catch threats early, protecting your company's growth from potential cyber disruptions.

Regular updates are crucial for effective cybersecurity. Continuously revise your security policies, tools, and practices to address new challenges as your business grows. This includes patching software, updating firewalls, and revising access controls. Staying proactive ensures your defenses evolve with your company.

During the growth process and in any process, perhaps the most important issue is regularly reviewing and updating employees' access permissions. During new hires or department changes, it is crucial to apply the principle of "least privilege," ensuring that employees have access only to the information they need. This helps prevent internal threats and data breaches.

Security as a competitive advantage is too infrequently mentioned as a driver of business growth. As businesses mature their cyber resilience practices, and increasingly their procurement policies, approaches to 3rd party risk assessments can be the critical difference between locking in a customer and out-pacing competitors. Clients need your business to safeguard their data and support them in mitigating risk, creating value beyond the transaction. Cybersecure businesses are seen as quality businesses, so investing in robust capabilities that are aligned with mitigating internal risk and identified client risk can set the business up for growth.