Four Questions Every CEO Must Answer
Until recently, CEOs could delegate accountability for cybersecurity to their chief information or security officers. Those days are gone. Today, when a public company suffers a serious cyber attack—not “if” but “when”—the CEO must explain the details and implications within days to regulators, the investing public, and other stakeholders.
Several factors are vaulting cybersecurity to the top of the CEO agenda:
The Cybersecurity Questions Every CEO Must Answer
CEOs must be prepared to lead, and engage in, the company’s cybersecurity strategy. They can start by answering four questions:
How prepared am I for a strategic discussion with my board?
CEOs don’t need to dive into the technical weeds of cybersecurity, but they do need sufficient command of the subject to hold an in-depth discussion with their boards, regulators, managers, and key stakeholders. That starts with understanding the greatest cybersecurity threats their company faces and the key vulnerabilities and risk exposure of their most critical systems. CEOs need to know their organization’s “crown jewels”—assets that, if successfully attacked, would cause the most serious damage to their organization, investors, and customers—and what is required to protect them.
How secure is our digital transition?
As organizations race to digitize, CEOs should not assume that the IT solutions and cloud platforms they’re migrating to are sufficiently secure. “Many companies moving to the cloud don’t have a clear plan to manage the transition from legacy systems,” says BCG’s Klier. “They mistakenly believe that all the security they need is supplied by the cloud provider.” Instead, CEOs can embed security into digital overhauls and AI development as they’re being implemented—a concept known as “secure by design.”
Are we spending the right amount on cybersecurity—and in the right places?
The vast majority of cybersecurity spending goes toward defending against attacks, with only 20% devoted to response and recovery. CEOs should devote as much focus and budget to rapidly responding and recovering from breaches as they do to defending against them. By doing so, they will be better equipped to get systems back online as soon as possible when the inevitable breach happens.
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Do we have the right capabilities, culture, and talent to enable us to evolve securely?
Most companies train their employees to spot phishing emails and be more careful when sharing data, but human error is still involved to some degree in most breaches. For that reason, CEOs should embed cybersecurity—from detection and protection through response and recovery—into their company culture.
As threats proliferate and the toll from attacks grows, the cybersecurity stakes are only getting higher for CEOs and the companies they lead. CEOs must rise to the moment—because if there is a significant attack, the ultimate responsibility for dealing with the consequences will fall squarely on their shoulders.
More of our latest thinking on the CEO Agenda:
Senior SDR at Alleyoop | AI-Driven Strategist | Bilingual Leader Delivering Growth & Innovation
2 个月Great questions for any leader and/or owner of a company when it comes to preparing for the future which is beginning now.
Product Operating Model Expert | Product Manager | Business Analyst | Project Manager | I help IT Change Leaders to reduce IT Operations costs by ￡10m by leading the delivery of Digital Transformation & Business Change
3 个月Some excellent insights in this article Boston Consulting Group (BCG), it's really recognising how much more front and centre CEOs need to consider cybersecurity within the portfolio. The call out on sophisticated phishing and use of deepfake is resonant with an article I wrote where I suggest organisations need to train on disinformation - and I believe security awareness is very much part of that: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/atull_socialmedia-misinformation-digitaltransformation-activity-7232333543815741440-wqiR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop I'd be curious to know whether there are common types of digital transformation efforts you've seen where cyber attacks are most commonplace? I'd imagine cloud transition activity must be amongst the most vulnerable areas?
Preventative Psychiatrist, Classics-Informed Consultant, Speaker, Author of ALIVE OR NOT ALIVE, Founder of GENEXT INC, and Host of Wellness Artist PODCAST.
3 个月‘Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.’’
Portfolio Head, H&S-Capgemini India | Ex-PwC? Transformational & Visionary Sustainability, ESG Strategy Leadership ? Driving Decarbonization, low-carbon future ? Corporate Wellbeing Program & Strategy for 180K+ Employees
3 个月Cybersecurity risk management is crucial in today's digital landscape, where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated & widespread.? Our Organizations handles vast amount of sensitive information, including employee personal data around Corporate Wellness, financial records, & intellectual property. There is an underlying business risk of data breach which needs to be protected.? While we are racing towards digitization, we need to ensure that IT solutions & cloud platforms, that are hosting our data, are sufficiently secure. In the recent years, I have experienced internal cybersecurity audit processes getting stringent & the legal/data protection clauses in the supplier contract being more mindful/inclusive of the mitigation efforts towards protecting the data. Being a French MNC, we are subject to strict data protection regulations GDPR & also HIPAA compliance as we are handling personal medical data/information.? Through putting process documentation in place, both for us & our suppliers, we are trying to make our system more "Secure by design".? Personally, being the portfolio head, I am working closely with our Group Cybersecurity team by annually auditing each of our supplier to ensure we make the system more cybersafe.