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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Talk to a professional.
- 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.