Compliance is a crucial aspect of every organization. In business terms, it’s about ensuring that businesses of any size and the employees they employ adhere to current international and national laws. For instance, in the UK, the Companies Act 2006 is the primary legislation that constitutes the basis of all company law. Businesses of all sizes need to make sure they follow the law to stay in compliance.
However, compliance becomes more stringent as each year passes. Regulations change, and, often, businesses have to make a substantial amount of money to stay in compliance. Many companies neglect security when they are ensuring that they’re compliant. However, when you begin with a security standpoint, you’ll usually be able to satisfy compliance requirements and will be able to cover any restrictions that are tightening.
Cybersecurity is an essential issue across every sector, requiring organizations to comprehend the threats and how they can effectively respond to cyber-attacks by having an organized plan. When a data breach occurs, there is no question of whether or not it will happen; however, it is about time. The price of the data breach – both reputationally and financially – can be so significant that it is no longer able to be overlooked by companies.
There are many instances of fully compliant organizations that data breaches have still harmed. In 2024, LinkedIn suffered a security breach that affected 700 million users, and Facebook sustained a breach in 2019, affecting 533 million people. Yahoo! had a hack in 2013 which affected nearly one billion people. The issue is getting worse as in 2024, 39 percent of UK companies were able to identify a cyberattack against them. By 2024 the same proportion of UK companies have detected cyber-attacks, and we’re only two months into this year. It isn’t enough.
Gary Hibberd, Professor of Communicating Cyber, wrote in his Whitepaper “Mind the Cyber Security Gap – Why Compliance Isn’t Enough” By paying attention to the people around in the Boardroom at the table and what they’re seeking to achieve and rethinking what we do to aid them. CEOs generally are looking to cut costs; therefore, explain how the money they spend on Cybersecurity can be more targeted. The CEO would like to boost the value of their brand and let them know how Cybersecurity can help protect the brand’s reputation. The Sales Director will be looking to boost sales by demonstrating how they can use Cybersecurity as a differentiator for business and competitive advantage.
Business leaders are no longer able to ignore the increasing cyber-attacks. They must put security on their agendas, not just at the board levels but also rolled out throughout the entire organization. How do you evaluate your security case in the business and gain support for cybersecurity-related projects?
Making a Security Business Case with Compliance in mind
Every business should invest in cybersecurity, and security professionals prepare a convincing business argument. When you start from a security standpoint, compliance should immediately be taken care of. Companies should consider the following factors when trying to get the approval of the Board regarding cybersecurity:
1. Run a Full Compliance Audit
You must conduct an extensive examination of your security practices and note any areas or gaps that need improvements. It is essential to determine where sensitive or confidential data is stored and who can access it. Threats from insiders are not uncommon, and many security professionals are unaware of the dangers of data breaches that could be that are caused by negligent or even malicious insiders. It is important to note that not every data has the same degree of risk in terms of risk. The process is likely to take time, but it’s essential to have an accurate picture of the security measures.
2. Expectations Should be set From the Beginning
Cybersecurity isn’t a product or product. It is essential to prove that safeguarding an organization from loss can be the only way to ensure any financial gain is realized. Be sure to explain your case to the Board with numbers, for instance, to show how a PS1 investment will prevent any security incident that could result in a cost of PS10 for the company. In this way, it’ll be possible to convince the Board to support your side by showing the business case and return on investment security measures.
3 Pick the Right Areas for Investment
To allow the Board to decide on their security-related investment decisions, it is essential to provide them with information that addresses any apparent danger vectors, like inadequate security awareness programs and training of employees, as well as policies and processes which aren’t being correctly applied and documented, or a lack of practices for data backup and patches. Making a risk/reward calculation with a tiered security strategy is an intelligent way to move forward to focus your investments on incident response and identify compliance.
4. Present a Strong Business Case to the Board
After you’ve created a compelling and convincing argument for your organization’s business, it is time to present the plan to the Executive Board. When you submit your case to them, think about any questions they might have, what they are focusing on, and their general cybersecurity knowledge. Be sure to provide the required documents and evidence to back up any budget request – these decision-makers must be able to make informed decisions, not just regarding the security of an individual company as a whole but also for the organization.
Final Thoughts
Suppose you are submitting a convincing business justification for a security buy-in. In that case, It is essential to ensure that your plan is in line with your company’s risk requirements and requirements for compliance. Every company would like to be secure over the long term; however, the criteria for submission mean that they usually remain focused on the short-term cycle. Companies must build an unbreakable connection between security and compliance to safeguard their data and systems. The opposite of either will not work.
We spoke with several experts who shared their insights on managing compliance and security programs. They shared their experiences of the gap between cybersecurity and compliance.
