Page 206 - Cyber Defense eMagazine April 2023

Communicating Cyber Risk

CISOs struggle with the board amidst an economic downturn.

By Tim Fleming, Strategic Advisor at Silverfort

Cyber risk is now nailed firmly to the board table. A seemingly never-ending procession of high-profile
data breaches and attacks causing operations to grind to a halt has seen to this. Fighting for priority
amongst other business siloes has become less of a problem for the CISO.

However, a perennial issue that does still hold cyber risk back in the boardroom is that of communication.
Interactions can still sometimes feel like they’re taking place in different languages, or are focussed on
disparate objectives, something the accomplished security leader must seek to avoid.

Clouds on the economic horizon make this even more important. As a slowing global economy weighs
on sentiment, the people, processes, and technology which make up a security leaders risk posture come
under the microscope. Harder questions are asked about priorities. You must justify where your chips
are laid.

Against this background, communicating with the board effectively becomes even more important.

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