EDITORIAL: CYBER SECURITY - RISK OR OPPORTUNITY?
October 2023 Edition - Written by Lesley Stephenson
Does cyber security pose a risk or an opportunity? Of course, the answer is that it’s both.
Cyber security risk is growing, ever more companies are being targeted, and while multi-million-dollar ransoms attract the headlines, the impacts of a cyber incident are felt right across the business world: higher insurance premiums, business disruption, lower production, delays, reputational damage, intellectual property theft, litigation, and regulatory actions, to name a few.
Many boards don’t understand their role in cyber security. They lack the right level of cyber awareness, can’t always turn to the executive team to bridge this gap, and, as a result, fail to challenge what they hear in the boardroom.
Boards that prioritise cyber security have a clear understanding of the unique role of the board. They recruit directors with specialist knowledge of technology, digital, data or cyber and invest in education to raise their individual and collective understanding of cyber security. They make cyber security a regular topic of discussion in board meetings, ensure cyber security has a home within a designated board committee, and seek advice from the Chief Information Security Officer and independent cyber advisors.
Getting cyber security governance right is not just a win for the security of individual companies; it can offer a real competitive advantage. Recent evidence from MIT Sloan shows that large enterprises with digitally savvy executive teams have significantly higher revenue growth, valuations and net margins. Cyber savviness also brings many top-line benefits, including high success rates when tendering for new clients, improved data insights, investor confidence and maintenance of shareholder value during mergers and acquisitions.
One of this month’s reports, Why board governance of cyber security is a source of competitive advantage from Savanti, sets out a five-point plan for effective cyber security board governance, or you can read the FT’s special report on how to navigate cyber risk.