Keeping Pace With Cyber Risk & IT Compliance

Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing priorities for organizations, as concerns over the risk of security breaches coupled with rising compliance obligations leave leaders scrambling to improve their security posture and cyber resilience.

Cybersecurity has gained significant prominence within the world of governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) due to the constantly evolving landscape of cyber risks and threats. A recent survey conducted by the Institute of International Finance and EY found that 72% of bank CROs rank cybersecurity as a top risk priority.

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Organizations have lost millions from ransomware attacks, data breaches, and a loss of reputation with their customer base. Between proliferating cyber risks and attacks, workforce shortages, and limited resources, many institutions struggle to build proactive cybersecurity practices that meet operational and compliance demands.

The Problem: Insufficient Cybersecurity Capabilities & Preparation

A Forrester study on building cyber resilience, which surveyed cybersecurity decision-makers, revealed shortcomings in teams’ ability to prepare for, measure, and respond to cyber incidents, including:

Poor preventative measures: 82% of respondents agreed that better preparation could have mitigated some to all of the damage of their most significant cyber incident in the last year.

Missing metrics: Nearly half of cybersecurity leaders aren’t able to measure their organization’s cyber capabilities. Furthermore, a majority (55%) agree that their cybersecurity team doesn’t have the data needed to demonstrate readiness to properly respond to cyber threats.

Under pressure and underequipped: 72% of decision-makers agree the cyber threat landscape is becoming more challenging, while 84% indicate their cybersecurity teams feel increasing pressure to be prepared for the next attack. Yet less than a third (32%) believe their organization has a formal strategy to ensure cyber resilience.

The Solution: Fostering a Culture of Cybersecurity

Despite these struggles, organizations can take action to bolster their cybersecurity posture through policies, training, reporting, and other practices that embed cybersecurity in corporate culture.

Policies and Training

Digital threat actors are constantly developing new methods and finding clever ways to bypass security protocols. Organizations must stay up to date with these developments and ensure that employees are effectively informed and trained. Policies and practices that support good cybersecurity hygiene give employees the knowledge and tools needed to identify and report on issues related to cybersecurity.

Data Analytics and Reporting

One study estimates that only 13% of organizations consistently use key risk indicators to understand and manage IT risk. The research indicates that analytic capabilities like dashboard-based risk reporting and KRI monitoring are underutilized by cybersecurity teams—a clear connection to the widespread struggles to collect and measure cyber risk data.

IT Compliance

Data security and related regulation is top of mind for many cybersecurity leaders. As businesses become more data-dependent, regulators have pushed for a higher level of responsibility for the personal information of consumers and employees. Failure to safeguard sensitive data and consumer privacy could result in hefty fines more financially detrimental than the data breach itself.

Investing in Cyber Risk Management

Ninety percent of security leaders believe their organization is falling short in addressing cyber risk, but this doesn’t have to be the status quo.

Effective cybersecurity is an investment, not only in the safety and profitability of your organization, but also in the protection of its employees and consumers.

Learn more about the benefits of adopting an integrated approach to IT risk and compliance in “Cybersecurity By Design.” Download the guide →