Better-informed, Strategic Decision Making
We all want to get the most bang for our buck. Because we understand the risks better, we now can make better decisions on maximizing our spending. We can put the effort in where it will do the most good. When probable costs exceed the company’s risk appetite, identify improvements or an appropriate level of cybersecurity insurance to cover the difference.
Clearer Story Sharing
We are able to show data based on a deep assessment of the security program and current threats to the C-suite and Board, making it more tangible and understandable by all. Graphs of our maturity today shown with our target maturity tomorrow show our leaders that we have a plan, know where we’re headed, and how we will get there.
When we estimate dollars associated with breaches at the company, we put it into language CEOs and CFOs can understand. When you quantify your cybersecurity risk in terms of value at risk and potential financial loss, you are speaking the language of business. This leads to good risk mitigation discussions and allows us to determine an appropriate risk response – avoidance, reduction, sharing, or acceptance.
Prioritized Spend
We can demonstrate with meaningful data how strategic investment can be applied to reduce risk where it would make the greatest impact. Clever business people want to see what they get for their investment in people and technology. They want a return that is tangible and has a high probability of success. With a modeling approach you can run the simulation again with proposed improvements to see which changes have the greatest reduction in likelihood and impact. This results in better prioritization of projects that protect your company.
Better Operational and Enterprise Risk Management
Presenting the IT risk profile with a modeling approach makes it easier to compare with other enterprise risks. This enables a better understanding and better Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) decision making. Adopting a repeatable risk assessment process that integrates with the organization’s Operational Risk Management (ORM) processes enhances the maturity of your ERM program. If you are a large organization, this modeling approach provides a documented methodology for a justifiable capital reserve for the cybersecurity component of operational risk. Improving ERM and ORM maturity helps ensure consistent results and better visibility and discussions.
Stay Ahead of the Cyber Criminals
Today’s professional criminals have more sophisticated tools, they are smarter, better funded, and more skilled than ever before. We need to rise to the occasion to meet these challenges with creative and effective strategies before our company becomes the next “Breach of the Day” What I’m suggesting is not FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) as motivation to do something, but rather an engaged and smart approach where we use the data along with counterintelligence to outsmart and out-analyze the bad guys in order to defeat them.
The old ways don’t work anymore, and we can’t continue to use worn-out approaches to protect our businesses. Embracing counterintelligence, data science, effective defense in depth, tried and true security processes, independent validation of the overall security program, and creative data modeling are needed to thwart today’s hackers.
To learn more about how our smarter approach to security assessments can benefit your organization, please contact us.
