How To Align Cybersecurity With Business Goals
If done right, cybersecurity can become a major driving force for your business. Even if you have the most advanced cybersecurity solution, it won’t mean a thing if it’s not optimized to meet your business goals. This is why aligning security with your business objectives is very important.
Security isn’t an add-on. It should be an integral part of your company’s culture. In a digital era where cyberattacks have become one of the top risks that businesses from all sectors face, finding a way to prevent these attacks is crucial.
Nevertheless, creating and implementing a cybersecurity solution that’s aligned with your business goals may take time and effort, but it’s definitely worth it. Read on to figure out how to develop a cybersecurity strategy that’s optimized for your company objectives.
- Understand The Business
It’s impossible to create a cybersecurity strategy without understanding your business. You must first identify your business goals to create a security program that matches them. To do this, you need to start asking questions and do your homework so you can understand the true purpose of your business as well as the industry sector that it’s part of.
- Know The Risks
The security threats that your business faces may be different from those of other companies. Even your departments face different kinds of security threats. For example, using weak passwords and opening emails or files without scanning them can put you at risk of security breaches.
A simple and easy way of aligning cybersecurity with your business objectives is to outline all the potential cyber threats that every department may face. It’s very similar to what you do when you conduct an SEO content audit in order to increase your visibility. Instead of keywords, you’ll be identifying all the possible threats you could encounter in your business.
With a list in hand, you can easily pinpoint which teams need education and training about cybersecurity so you can incorporate it into your business operations strategically. Significantly, a security risk assessment helps in identifying the areas of vulnerability in your business. In addition, you can use this to evaluate the type and level of security that you need to establish.
Meanwhile, you can make a list of the assets that are highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks so they can be securely locked down. This includes your company website, servers, and files.
- Instill Cybersecurity In Your Culture
Developing a culture that instills secure practices all throughout your business’s daily operations is one of the best solutions to achieve your security objectives. Even if the management installs the best security solutions and policies, if no one follows them, then everything is completely useless.
Everyone from top to bottom should support the policies and practices without compromise and make it part of their daily routine. Managers, employees, IT professionals, and everyone else should all be on the same page when it comes to security risks.
Leveraging the business architecture and principles during the planning process enables you to create a culture that can be adopted and followed by everyone in the company. Perhaps the best way to instill a cybersecurity culture in the organization is to do strategic and tactical planning of the security of the business like what https://infotech.us/ does.
- Recognize Cybersecurity As A Requirement
You should never treat cybersecurity as an end goal. Instead, you should recognize it as a prerequisite and an ongoing concern for your business. Consider it as a requirement for you to achieve your business goals. As such, every security initiative that you implement should be aligned with the objectives that you’re pursuing.
Additionally, the team tasked with your cybersecurity should evaluate the different options and outcomes available for achieving your business goals rather than focusing on security measures for the sake of security alone.
Moreover, cybersecurity must never take up the role of an overprotective parent because it can hinder your performance and detract you from achieving your business goals.
- Everyone Should Be On The Same Page
The problem though is that cybersecurity teams are way too focused on information or data security that they no longer think about the overall objectives of the company. Aside from that, each person in the upper management may have different business priorities.
For instance, the head of the marketing team is only worried about the success of the marketing campaign they just launched. The same can be said for the head of the IT team, who’s constantly concerned about the cost of security solutions and potential losses from cyber-attacks.
It’s critical for everyone to be on the same page. So, this will help the cybersecurity team come up with security measures that will help the business achieve its goals.
Final Thoughts
Aligning cybersecurity with your business goals is a gradual and ongoing process. It takes time, resources, comprehensive planning, and most importantly, cooperation from everyone in the organization.
