Cybersecurity Hits the Boardroom

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.govtech.com/security/Cybersecurity-Hits-the-Boardroom.html

When we asked state IT professionals to rank their priorities for the next
two years, one issue stood far above the rest: cybersecurity.

Given the seemingly endless parade of high-profile attacks, their concerns
are understandable. This year began, of course, with Target reeling from
the news that attackers had stolen credit card information for some 40
million of the retailer’s customers. As this issue of Government Technology
went to press, Home Depot was investigating what could be an even bigger
theft of its customers’ credit and debit card data, and Apple was
struggling to explain the unauthorized release of celebrity photos from its
iCloud service.

Events like these can cost CIOs and CISOs their jobs, so it’s little wonder
they’re paying attention. Sixty-five percent of respondents in our 2014
Digital States Survey put cybersecurity among their top three priorities.
Cloud computing was a distant runner-up at 28 percent.

But while technology officials have worried about security breaches for
years — cybersecurity was a top concern in our 2012 Digital States Survey,
too — the issue hasn’t been on the radar of top management. Instead,
cybersecurity was viewed as a problem for the technology guys to fix, not a
risk for leadership to address.

That’s changing now as more and more of us become victims of data theft. A
recent report from CNNMoney estimates that nearly half of all adults in the
U.S. have had personal information stolen by hackers in the last 12 months,
and it’s reasonable to think that many of them are asking why top execs
aren’t taking better care of their data.

The Target breach didn’t just cost CIO Beth Jacob her job. Company CEO
Gregg Steinhafel resigned in May as the retailer struggled to regain the
trust of shoppers. The event sounded a warning that repercussions from
identity theft can ripple all the way up to the boardroom. Cybersecurity is
getting more attention from state and local political leaders too. Late
last year, the National Governors Association released a call to action
urging governors to take steps to prevent cyberattacks.

Elevating the stature of cybersecurity is good news for CIOs and CISOs, who
are now getting more resources and better executive backing for data
protection initiatives. It also puts pressure on technology and security
professionals to develop better and more sophisticated responses to
cyberchallenges — and that’s good news for all of us.

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