The business landscape of recent years has been shaped by unexpected events that have forced leaders to explore new territories. From remote workspaces to digital supply chains, organizations are venturing beyond their usual boundaries. However, with every new venture comes a new set of cyber risks. Nevertheless, the good news is that Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and cyber teams have risen to the occasion and integrated with other C-suite executives to tackle increasing cybercrime head-on.
According to a PwC survey, 70% of 3,522 respondents observed significant improvement in cybersecurity in the last year alone, due to strategic investments and collective efforts from the C-suite to combat cyber risks.
As 2023 advances, CISOs, and cyber teams are faced with challenges including mandated disclosures, tests of resilience, and the pressure to ensure data security and privacy. To meet these challenges head-on, cybersecurity professionals require agility and dynamic tactics. In a tough economic environment, it’s crucial to determine where CISOs and cyber teams can wield their influence most effectively.
C-Suite recognizes the need to work together to tackle cybercrimes
As executives increasingly recognize increasing cybercrime as their most pressing threat in 2023, C-suites are actively preparing for the possibility of a catastrophic attack.
Here are some actions the C-Suite of an organization must take to ensure cybersecurity.
CEOs
CEOs across industries seek to bolster cybersecurity protocols by mandating risk management plans and streamlining supply chains. 46% of CEOs seek to empower their CISOs with more authority by involving them in C-suite collaboration discussions surrounding cybersecurity initiatives, setting out a path for greater resilience towards malicious digital threats moving forward. They should speak out about the company’s commitment to cyber security and rally the C-suite around the idea that being secure can be easier for business success.
The board
Corporate directors should allot more time to the CISO and cyber matters on their agenda, and not settle for board reporting that doesn’t give them confidence in the organization’s ability to manage cyber risks. They must also continuously understand the organization’s cyber resilience.
CISOs
CISOs must work with the CFO, general counsel, and other senior managers to explain the company’s risk management plans in a way that every employee can understand. CISOs must be able to present information in a way that the board, senior management, and investors can easily understand and act upon.
CIOs and CTOs
CIOs and CTOs must work with the CISO to secure their back-end, front-end, IoT, and operational technologies and keep cloud environments protected.
CFOs
As digital transformation efforts advance, CFOs must consider how each investment can contribute to reducing cyber risk. Companies that are aware of the financial implications of potential threats and take proactive steps towards security will likely see cost savings in the long run.
COOs
COOs must work hand-in-hand with the CISO and identify areas where OT and supply chain security can be improved on both a day-to-day basis as well as on a larger scale. Find out how to ensure protection from disruptions or assaults on operational technology systems and set up cyber risk management protocols when facing significant modifications in procedures.
CROs
Regularly re-evaluating risk appetite is essential for any organization, to ensure appropriate plans are in place should issues arise. Crafting a cohesive enterprise resilience plan that integrates crisis management, business continuity, and disaster recovery strategies creates an integrated approach to protect the company from disruption. Moreover, CROs must ensure that important senior executives remain up to date with these efforts so that coordinated action can be taken if necessary.
CDOs and CPOs
To ensure thorough security and privacy protocols, the CDO, CPO, and CISO must develop a unified playbook that covers all aspects of data protection such as governance, accessibility, and accuracy.
CHROs
To stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of cyber security, it is essential to know which skills are necessary for success and take active steps towards acquiring them. This could include recruiting appropriately qualified individuals and providing incentives that will help make your organization an attractive proposition. Additionally, they can consider incorporating cybersecurity criteria into contracts with any external suppliers or services used by your business.
How C-Suite collaboration can tackle cloud security
It is predicted that there will be serious cloud-based attacks (38%) in 2023, which could result in costly notifications to data owners, harm to the enterprise’s reputation, and potential class-action lawsuits against the company. To work together to defend against these potential attacks, the C-suite can collaborate in the following ways:
- The CIO can enable DevSecOps in application development and perform thorough pre-launch testing to identify and remediate misconfigurations from both users and automated deployments.
- The CISO can establish and enforce policies and procedures for securing applications and data, perform vulnerability and penetration testing, regularly patch systems, continuously monitor compliance, and monitor security events and incidents using SIEM tools.
- The CTO can require cloud service providers and third parties to provide dashboards and tools to detect misconfigurations across their environments.
- The CDO can ensure that apps comply with privacy requirements and that customer data is partitioned and encrypted for better protection. Additionally, the CDO can implement solutions that encrypt data at rest, in transit, and while in use.
How the C-Suite can together work to prevent OT attacks
29% of big companies expect operational technology (OT) attacks to increase. This could mean that their production stops because all the systems need to be turned off, which influences other companies too. Malicious hackers quickly capitalize on outdated enterprise systems, exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities to inject ransomware. Without consistent patch management and adequate monitoring-detection capabilities for legacy systems, these security holes are far too often left unaccounted for.
However, CISOs, CTOS, CIOs, COOs, and CROs can together reduce the chances of such attacks.
- CIOs can work with CISOs and CTOs to identify commonalities and critical interdependencies between IT and OT systems.
- CISOs can work with CIOs and CTOs to implement a separation between IT and OT, creating a secure landing zone that obscures OT from direct access, and training employees on proper access and incident response protocols.
- CTOs must collaborate with CISOs and CIOs to create a plan for patching and monitoring endpoints.
- CROs must develop a methodology to evaluate the cyber risks present in the OT environment, including scenarios and practicing incident response procedures that incorporate both IT and OT response processes.
- COOs must consider cybersecurity as a factor when procuring industrial control systems, contracting with cloud providers, and defining service agreements with external service providers.
Advancing into the future, C-level leaders must ensure that their organization remains proactive by engaging in frequent cyber education, conducting thorough threat assessment tests, and implementing strong measures. The best way to do this is for the C-suite executives to unite and make cyber risk a priority for the entire organization.
Source credits: PwC
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