Data security has long been thought of as strictly an IT responsibility. This is no longer the case: Cyber threats can bring large-scale repercussions to corporations in any industry, and the damage that occurs won’t just on the financial or public relations front. Cyber threats can impact long-term growth, and affect employee morale.
Many companies — if they didn’t already have a digital presence from the day they launched — are going through a digital transformation, too.
Enterprise mobility, remote workers, cloud-based business operations, and even bring-your-own-device (BYOD) practices bring significant benefits, but can also leave an organization vulnerable to a whole range of cybersecurity issues.
Speaking to Accenture’s report, Brian Walker, managing director of Accenture Technology Strategy, says the big question for organizations is not if, but when a cyber-attack will happen. “[Companies] cannot prevent an attack or failure, but they can mitigate the damage it can cause by taking steps to make their business more resilient, agile and fault-tolerant,” he said.
There’s no magic bullet to help organizations block digital breaches; every organization needs to find its own solution. This is why it’s necessary for a CEO to raise the priority of cybersecurity not just with the CIO, but across the C-suite and the board — in fact, across the entire company. A lot of information gets trapped between departmental silos, miscommunication and inconsistent security measures included. Leaders must work together to break down these silos and create damage-prevention strategies that flow seamlessly from one department to the other.
For example, successfully responding to a cyber-attack may depend on:
