The Board of Directors and Cybersecurity: Why and How to Care?

In any company the objective of the board of directors and to grow the turnover.

And this with the intention of responding to the interests of shareholders. Seen in this regard, the Board of Directors must ensure that the risks that can hinder the development of the company and the development of the company are minimized, as this is a benefit. That is why it has to consider, and even as one of the priorities, everything related to cybersecurity.

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The Board's interest in IT security meets the growing needs of businesses for the day-to-day use of digital services. Today, IT has become something of a key in business development, to the point that there is virtually no company with no major use of digital tools. However, recent years have shown that this dependence on computers is also often a source of problems. Computer hacking being the first evil see the main evil of this environment.

That's what cybersecurity comes to the rescue. "Whether it is managed in-house or outsourced to a specialized company, is to understand and mitigate these risks. Steven Meyer, co-founder of ZENData, a regional leader in providing security solutions, audits and digital protection training, noted Steven Meyer and co-founder.

However, the dangers that businesses face through their massive use of COMPUTing are not something so easy to grasp. The risk can occur from anywhere at any time. This may affect the ability of administrators not only to understand how this system works, but also to overlook the risks. "Companies' reliance on their IT systems is rarely valued; it is usually only after an incident that employees and management see the strategic role that their digital infrastructure plays in accomplishing their mission. This awareness is essential in order to start a constructive conversation around Cybersecurity. the expert notes.

To do this, "It is essential to treat cyber risks like all other business risks of the company and not reduce them to a simple IT problem: knowing the most critical processes of the company and assessing the impact of an interruption is not an IT problem but a strategic necessity. This widespread bias is also at fault in the approach of computer scientists. says the co-founder of ZENData.

So instead of just focusing on business activities, activities that could certainly be disrupted by a computer attack, which is actually the central problem of the security of the company as a whole, managers tend to focus much more on individual technologies, in a dynamic to focus on solving certain computer vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, this does not solve the problem, and does not in any way reduce the risks to companies. In the end, more resources and time are wasted to secure an aspect that could have been second to the way. For this reason, the major challenge for boards of directors is to have the broadest and most practical approach to cyber threats, and their understanding, to be able to define effective defense strategies. In summary, executives need to seek to understand a party's cyber threats, and to determine how these IT risks might affect their business activity.

Such a mastery of this environment has something that needs to be done urgently. Indeed, it is impossible to spend a full week without there being a cyber incident or computer attack in progress. Threats are pervasive and regular. And as we know, apart from the technical and material consequences, a cyberattack affects a company's share prices, damages its reputation or the reputation of the affiliated brand, not to mention legal action and fines that are never far away.According to Steven Meyer, 40% of SMEs in 2018 have experienced at least one IT incident. 33% of them had severe financial losses. In addition, half of the small and medium-sized enterprises that were hit by a computer attack were subsequently forced to file for bankruptcy the following year. This is totally different from large companies. Even though they are under computer attack that typically value millions of dollars, these companies still manage to function. However, in the majority of cases, members of management are dismissed.

"Cybersecurity today is no longer an IT issue, but a strategic imperative. It must constantly adapt to the company's innovation, new attacks, employee needs and customer requirements. To do so, it must be independent of the IT department, and the board of directors must be directly and regularly involved in cybersecurity strategies and decisions. concluded Stephen Meyer.

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