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    6 security leader tips for mastering business risk

    Longtime security leader Doug Kersten has expanded his list of responsibilities. As CISO of software maker Appfire, he now has accountability for business risks, such as how security tools and processes within customer products and services impact their costs and, thus, profitability. It’s a clearcut example, he says, of where and why CISOs must consider not purely security risk, but also business risk. “CISOs need to provide input and remediation on the impact of security cost because these often-hidden costs have a negative impact on profitability,” he says. “This is usually overlooked by finance teams when analyzing the true cost of goods sold, and if CISOs are not plugged into the evaluation of business risk, it can easily be dismissed.” The expansion of Kersten’s remit into business risk isn’t unique. CISOs across industries are increasingly expected to identify and address business risks that in the past had been outside the bounds of their roles. “While CISOs traditionally focused on protecting systems, networks, and data, today’s business environment requires security leaders to understand how cyber threats impact revenue, operations, customer trust, regulatory obligations, supply chains, and strategic objectives,” says Dale Hoak , CISO at software firm RegScale. “The distinction between business risk and security risk is becoming increasingly blurred.” As such, CISOs today must be enterprise risk leaders , he says, capable of advising executives on how security decisions affect the organization’s ability to achieve its business objectives — not just how they impact the IT stack or technology performance. Understanding business risk is a significant task, experts agree, but they stress that security chiefs are capable of mastering the skill. Here, Kersten, Hoak, and other security leaders offer strategies on how to do so. 1. Partner with the owners of business risk By his own admission, Roland Palmer , CISO and vice president of tech company JumpCloud, has yet to master business risk. So he’s partnering with those in his organization who own it, so he has opportunities to learn and contribute. “We form a great team to understand risk and the organization’s risk appetite,” he says. Team members include leaders from legal, finance, and marketing, as well as the COO. Kersten similarly leans on business leaders to sharpen his understanding of business risk. Last year Kersten, working with his exec colleagues, devised a program assigning business leaders to security risks. “Security helps them understand the security risks, but they also bring to us the [associated] business risks and what can be done to mitigate them,” he explains, noting that this approach also surfaced risks that have since been addressed, thereby closing gaps that were previously unknown. 2. Align cybersecurity explicitly to business objectives Kerstan believes security teams must understand business objectives , so they can understand what risks could derail which objectives. To ensure his security program has that knowledge, he incorporates corporate objectives and key results into his security strategy. “I build out plans to address those business objectives and key results. I still have that parallel tier of security risk, which is handled by the security team; that doesn’t go away. But layered onto this is the business OKRs that I need to execute against,” he explains. “It changed how we look at risk and what we have to do.” For example, he now considers how security department actions may impact employee satisfaction and how that relates to employ retention, a business risk identified by HR, “so we’re working to make sure what we do aligns to the needs of the HR department.” Richard Watson , global cybersecurity leader with professional services firm EY, agrees with the need to “align cybersecurity explicitly to business objectives.” “Map cyber controls to critical assets and business processes, and link these to potential financial impact,” he advises. “This enables CISOs to translate technical exposure into business terms and prioritize investment accordingly.” 3. Lean into networking and relationships Another effective way to get a good grasp on business risks: talking with business colleagues. Regular conversations often yield insights into what truly has them worried, says Gary Hayslip , a cybersecurity executive and co-author of the CISO Desk Reference Guide . “Another thing I have done to understand business risks, and I have recommended it to peers, is doing a walk-about or what some people call a listening tour,” he says. “I do this in every role I am in because I feel it’s important to understand their objectives, the technologies they use, the projects they have ongoing, the issues they may have with the security program, and, finally, what genuinely keeps them up at night.” Others say they take a similar approach, stressing the value of networking and building relationships where colleagues feel comfortable raising concerns and collaborating on solutions. “Business risk cannot be managed in isolation. CISOs should regularly engage with the CFO, COO, general counsel, chief risk officer, product leaders, and business unit executives,” Hoak says. “These conversations provide insight into emerging business concerns and help security become part of strategic planning rather than a downstream compliance exercise.” 4. Run tabletop exercises focused on business risk This is a more structured opportunity, but an equally effective one, to gain more insights into business risks — so long as the exercises put the business front and center, Hayslip says. “Most tabletop exercises conducted by the CISO and security teams remain technical and stop at containment. I have found it’s better to run scenarios that force the executives into the decisions they’d actually make during a crisis, such as whether to pay a ransom , when and what to disclose if there is a data breach, how to handle customers, when and who should invoke legal privilege, and is there an operational fallback available and if so who makes the decision to activate it,” Hayslip says. “Running these types of scenarios helps stress-test the company’s response and teaches the CISO and security team how their peers make decisions under pressure,” he adds. 5. Study up on business risk Sean Murphy , senior vice president and CISO at BECU, the fifth-largest credit union in the US, didn’t leave learning about business risk to serendipity. He sought out opportunities for formal learning, such as earning the Directorship Certification from the National Association of Corporate Directors . The certification verifies the holder’s expertise in governance, fiduciary duties, strategy, and risk oversight. Murphy sought the certification to strengthen his qualifications for a board position and to better understand the perspectives of his company’s board, including how it views risk. “The certification helps me delve into what the board cares about and their world and helps me then turn that back to my team and what we’re doing,” he adds. “It gives me the business and executive view versus a purely technical and security view.” Others offer similar learning strategies. “The CISO needs to see the company the way the CEO, CFO, and board do,” Hayslip says. “To begin, I would recommend sitting down with the 10-K or annual report, the investor deck, and the earnings call transcripts. This will help the CISO understand how the company makes money and which products or business units drive revenue. It also helps the CISO understand what the leadership team is publicly telling the Street about key risks and where they believe revenue growth will come from in the next reporting cycle.” This work, while perhaps previously not essential for traditional security leaders, is becoming an imperative today. “This isn’t fun; in fact, it can be boring,” Murphy says. “But the CISO can’t prioritize protecting the business if they don’t know which parts of the business are considered critical. The annual report provides that view in the words of management.” Veteran security leaders also cite the value of earning certifications from ISACA , a professional association for governance and risk professionals, as well as the Institute of Internal Auditors’ Certified Internal Auditor designation . 6. Integrate security into enterprise risk management To truly master business risk, CISOs should not treat it as separate from security risk. “Cyber is now an existential business risk, not just an IT risk,” says Scott Melchior , a member of ISACA’s Emerging Trends Working Group with 20 years of experience at a global consulting firm focusing on governance, risk, and compliance. “Digital infrastructure is business infrastructure. They’re too intertwined to separate.” Hoak agrees, stressing the need for CISOs to integrate security into enterprise risk management . “Cyber risk should be incorporated into broader enterprise risk management processes alongside financial, operational, legal, and strategic risks. This creates a common framework for evaluating risk and helps executive leadership view cybersecurity within the context of overall business objectives,” he says. Hayslip has put this into practice. In his CISO roles, he has plugged the security risk register into the organization’s ERM platform. He says this allowed him to present cyber-related risks on the same platform that the board already reviews alongside financial, operational, and strategic risks. “The goal is for cyber risks to appear on the enterprise heat map as every other material risk, so they compete for resources and attention on equal terms rather than being a sidebar,” Hayslip says. “Now there is some work involved for the CISO to do this correctly, but it’s critically important to quantify cyber risk in dollars and probability, not colors. Moving from qualitative heat maps to financial impact numbers, I have found, is one of the biggest improvements in getting the business to hear the CISO.”

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