Cybersecurity and Privacy Challenges: Beyond the Headlines

Headlines and horror stories establish that cybersecurity and data privacy must be top priorities for industry and government.  Yet too many organizations remain in reactive mode rather than taking sufficient proactive steps to prioritize cybersecurity and prepare for security incidents.  Companies increasingly are judged by clients, customers and the public, as well as by regulators and civil litigants, on how well they respond to cyber attacks.  An effective response requires thoughtful, swift and sensible action to ensure the incident is detected, contained, mitigated and, when relevant, properly disclosed.  To ensure success, leadership should consider cybersecurity risk and strategies holistically, throughout the entire organization, and prioritize core concerns.  It is critical that the executive leadership team and board are sufficiently knowledgeable, and appropriately engaged, in cyber risk management as part of an enterprise-wide strategy.