Gone are the days that cybersecurity can be relegated to the IT department; it is now a C-suite and board issue that requires corporate wide attention. By asking the right questions and following a risk-based roadmap for prevention and response, executives can better protect their companies, customers & shareholders. Some tips for you:

  1. Learn the basics. You don’t have to be a coder to play a meaningful role in your company’s cybersecurity efforts. But you should take reasonable steps to learn the foundational elements of cybersecurity.
  2. Identify your crown jewels and understand your network. It is important to have a basic understanding of what kind of sensitive information your network possesses and how your systems store or transmit that information.
  3. Talk to a professional.
  4. Plan for a breach, including managing board or senior management expectations that there should never be one, because a breach likely will occur. A good plan also provides the added benefit of demonstrating to regulators and would-be plaintiffs that you have taken cybersecurity seriously in the aftermath of a potential breach. In the end, corporate executives should treat cybersecurity like so many of the other risks they manage.