5 Strategies for a CIO to Manage and Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks

5 Strategies for a CIO to Manage

The FBI’s Cyber Threat Map provides a valuable overview of the cyber threat landscape. The map shows where attacks are most prevalent, the number of incidents reported and how those incidents are classified. The map also highlights the most common types of attacks against organizations.

A cybersecurity incident can be devastating to a business. It can disrupt operations, damage systems and destroy data. To mitigate the risk of an attack, a CIO coaching must create a security mitigation plan. The process involves identifying all the company’s data touchpoints, prioritizing those touchpoints and assessing how vulnerable they are to cyber threats. The CIO can then use a variety of preventive measures to reduce the impact of a threat.

One of the most important strategies to implement is creating a strong firewall and antivirus system. These technological defenses provide an additional barrier between the outside world and the internal corporate network, giving companies more control over incoming and outgoing traffic. Additionally, it’s crucial that companies prioritize their cybersecurity requirements during contracting and procurement processes. High-profile breaches have occurred because of compromised vendor credentials or backdoors in purchased solutions that allow attackers to gain direct access to a company’s internal networks.

5 Strategies for a CIO to Manage and Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks

Another strategy is ensuring that all employees understand their role in preventing a cyber attack. Educating employees on how to spot a phishing scam, for example, can help protect the organization from cyberattacks that might otherwise go unnoticed. In addition, CIOs must ensure that employees are aware of what they should do to report a suspicious email or link.

The final strategy is putting a culture of cyber-responsibility into place at all levels of the corporation. This includes educating management, boards of directors and the wider workforce on how to identify and respond to a cyberattack. CIOs must also work to integrate the NIST Cybersecurity Framework into all IT policies and programs. This can help establish a common language across the enterprise and help senior management and board members see how the company is performing against its cyber-risk management objectives.

While cyberattacks may be inevitable, a company’s resiliency can be determined by its ability to quickly and effectively respond to an attack. Having a thorough incident response plan is essential, but companies should also make sure they regularly test these plans. This can be done through a variety of methods, including tabletop exercises and simulations.

Finally, the most important strategy is clear and purposeful communication. Berg stresses the need for cybersecurity specialists to speak in a way that makes it easy for management, staff and non-technical individuals to understand. For example, she recommends using storytelling and analogies to explain “invisible” threats like those associated with using public WiFi. Additionally, she advises CIOs to break down the barriers between departments and use different channels for communicating with different audiences. For example, a management team meeting will require a more formal presentation than an employee training session. This helps keep information security from becoming a silo within the department.