Industries continue to struggle to apply technological advances in pursuit of competitive advantages at a rate unsustainable by their established business practices. This trend began with the movement to the cloud and SaaS-based application adoption just a few years ago and has already moved on to the application of augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
What does this mean to organizations and businesses charged with securing their client data? It means that the capacity for organizations to adopt change and address the security concerns introduced by new technologies are failing to keep pace with the businesses’ need to innovate. This dynamic creates an environment in which leaders are asked to make decisions and investments about concepts that are not fully understood. These results manifest as business risk, making ownership of investments and decisions more consequential for leaders.
For this reason, the prospect of cybersecurity and risk management can appear intimidating. This is compounded by the fact that cyber threats are often associated with technical and sophisticated language. This escalating apprehension is only amplified by the consequential risks of a potential breach: compromised personal and organizational data, disruption of business operations, and the possibility of losing trust among all those involved.
Along with his team of experts and tech professionals at V3 Cybersecurity, Founder and CEO Jorge Conde-Berrocal has pioneered various cybersecurity solutions made to fit any organization’s requirements to make them better equipped to handle the threats of the modern world.
Cybersecurity and the digital space then and now
Cybersecurity has also evolved at light speed. In approximately two decades, business landscapes have seen the birth of an industry lead to the introduction of IT Risk Management and Resiliency based philosophies. Acceptance that all organizations are vulnerable to compromise is now the generally accepted position among cyber and business leaders. The importance of data and digital safety have also been underlying topics associated with the acceleration of technology and its impact on business performance and society as a whole.
“The next generation of leaders have grown up in a technology-based culture and have a better understanding of the relationship between cybersecurity, data, social responsibility and organizational performance,” says Conde-Berrocal. “The hope is that this inherent awareness will continue to increase focus and discourse on boards and within organizational leadership around the value of securing and ethical use of data.”
Why cybersecurity feels like a “taboo topic” despite its importance
The definition of the word itself is ambiguous to most, and with the lack of clarity, they are more likely to shy away from addressing the issue. According to Conde-Berrocal, some common reasons include the magnitude of the endeavor, the “distraction” from core products and mission, and the required financial investment.
Another reason is how people and organizations are anchored on growth and evolution. After all, growth and evolution are the success criteria for most people and organizations. By nature, cybersecurity is founded on the principle of control, implementing limitations on behavior and access. This can be seen as counter to the ideas that have been culturally instilled in most organizational leaders.
Delving deeper into this concern and highlighting the role that cybersecurity experts play, Conde-Berrocal shares, “The goal that most seasoned cyber leaders are trying to unlock is the alignment of security with business goals to provide a competitive advantage. I believe it is possible to align these concepts to provide a competitive advantage through operational optimization and assurance of data responsibility to our stakeholders.”
Conde-Berrocal concludes that these organizational and market dynamics make it easier for organizations to ignore or deprioritize the topic than to address the increasing risks posed by the acceleration of digitization. He states, “What most leaders fail to understand is that by doing nothing, they are accepting increased risk and the potential liabilities of negligence.”
Improving the mindset behind prioritizing cybersecurity
Conde-Berrocal first recommends that organizations clearly define what cybersecurity means to them and ensure that the leadership team has visibility and ownership of the process.
“In some cases, such as regulated environments, minimum expectations have been
established. In others, it is up to the organization to determine how they intend to approach their cybersecurity program. Organizations should look to adopt industry standards and frameworks for cybersecurity. They should benchmark themselves against industry peers as an operational, not event-based, component of their program governance. Establishing your cyber standard of care is critical to achieving your board and management oversight responsibilities.” he adds.
When asked about where to start, Conde-Berrocal encourages organizations to start with one of the many standard frameworks, like CIS, NIST, or ISO. Despite a clearer definition of the first step, Conde-Berrocal emphasizes that it will always be a continuous process. He shares, “As long as there are bad actors and technological advancement, there will also be new methods and needs for mitigating the associated risks.”
Despite this, Conde-Berrocal provides a ray of hope, concluding that many of the underlying capabilities people use today will continue to provide the foundation for cybersecurity moving forward.
What can organizations do?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to cybersecurity, as each organization has its unique needs and requirements, and trying to do it alone can lead to more complications than solutions. Gaining real-time visibility into an industry’s cyber risk posture is a great way to begin implementing a cyber risk management program. The same technological innovation challenging various sectors also allows them to automate most of the traditional consulting engagements used to help develop cyber roadmaps. From assessments to pentests, automated platforms and tools designed specifically to make cybersecurity less intimidating and more effective are driving new levels of accessibility and expertise previously reserved for the elite few.
With so many new technologies being produced and marketed, having the ability to establish a data-driven approach to your cyber program could prove to be the performance enhancer, operationally and financially, that organizations are looking for!
