Companies are facing increased and complex cybersecurity challenges in today’s interconnected digital economy. The cyber threats have become more sophisticated and may harm a company via innovative new forms of malware, through the compromise of global supply chains or by criminal and hostile state actors. The hard truth is that it is difficult to counter the ever-expanding cyber-criminal economy.

Corporations realize that they cannot escape reality nor find a panacea to remove the threats. Becoming a cyber-resilient organization is the only answer to the cybersecurity challenges, whether this involves developing a new culture and mindset or adopting different processes and technology. Those responsible for running the business of cybersecurity in companies and organizations are confronted by new demands driven by the digital transformation of businesses.

The facts are indicative of the graveness of the situation. According to the World Economic Forum Global Risks Report 2019, cyberattacks are one of the top 10 global risks of highest concern for the next decade, with data fraud and theft ranked fourth and cyberattacks fifth. Globally, the potential cost of these risks could scale up to $90 trillion in net economic impact by 2030 if cybersecurity efforts fail to keep pace with growing interconnectedness, according to the Zurich Insurance Group.

Although there is an abundance of guidance in the cybersecurity community from government and industry standards, including ISO, NIST and many others, the application of this guidance falls short of what is required to ensure effective defense against cyberattacks. As a result, the annual number of cyberattacks globally hit all-time highs every year.

What are the barriers to the adoption of cybersecurity best practices?

It is apparent that current approaches, policies and strategies make it difficult to implement comprehensive best practices across the digital and operating environments in organizations. Security tools and processes (Read more...)