Integrating Strategic Models for Cybersecurity: My Journey from MBA to Cyber Intelligence

As someone with experience in cyber intelligence and information security, the pursuit of holistic cybersecurity strategies has been a cornerstone of my professional growth. After completing my MBA and diving into CISM exam preparation materials, I realized that cybersecurity isn't just about firewalls, encryption, or technical defenses—it’s also about strategy. This realization led me to explore and develop a model that combines well-established business frameworks like Porter’s Five Forces and PESTEL with a tailored cyber threat analysis.

Why Combine Business Strategy with Cybersecurity?

The importance of aligning cybersecurity strategies with business objectives became clear during my MBA. Cybersecurity doesn’t exist in isolation; it’s deeply influenced by the competitive environment, regulatory changes, and external threats. When I started analyzing cybersecurity through business lenses like Porter and PESTEL, I saw how these models can offer a structured way to understand both external and internal risks.

• Porter’s Five Forces helped me analyze how the competitive landscape influences an organization’s vulnerabilities.
• PESTEL shed light on the broader macroeconomic and social factors that affect a company’s cybersecurity posture.

The Missing Link: Threat Analysis

Even though I didn’t pass the CISM exam, my preparation for it highlighted the need for cyber threat intelligence within these strategic frameworks. By integrating threat data—such as the number of active threat groups, campaigns, and vulnerabilities—into the analysis, we can create a complete picture of an organization’s risk landscape. This fusion of business strategy and cyber intelligence became the foundation for a model that assesses a company’s overall cybersecurity posture.

In my next blog, I’ll dive deeper into how these models work together to generate actionable insights. Additionally, I’ll explain that although my recent blogs are short, they will be quite substantial.

• Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review.
• Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action.
• Johnson, G., Scholes, K., & Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Pearson Education.