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With companies depending more and more on outsourced software products, cloud-based services, and partner relationships, those connections become potential vulnerabilities. CEOs need to understand vendor and product risks from a business decision-making perspective....

To determine which security metrics are important to measure, you must first understand your risks and define goals for addressing them. The human aspect of cybersecurity risk management, including awareness training and policy compliance, is especially important to...

Risk–cost awareness provides guidance on how to allocate resources to secure the enterprise infrastructure. With risk–cost awareness, it’s possible to communicate security metrics to the CEO or board in terms that enable them to make the necessary financial decisions....

Metrics that are most useful to the CEO relate to how far along the program is in achieving its goals. Security is more than just an operational cost. It’s also increasingly becoming a business enabler. "The CEO wants to know whether a process is or is not implemented...

If you see better results each time you run the tests, you know you have an effective security program that is reducing your attack surface. Metrics that measure the security IQ of people accessing your cloud environments are a good place to start. "There are two high...

Stay away from tactile metrics that don’t help executives understand the value of the security program. Use metrics to build a cohesive story that illustrates the probability of security issues, the potential damage that can be done, and steps necessary to reduce...

Metrics can be a great way to establish the CISO’s integrity within the enterprise. Measuring metrics, both at the operational and strategic levels, is vital. "What I’m trying to do from a strategic point of view is find those metrics that are really going to resonate...

Effective communication of security information— before the CEO asks—is a measure of a CISO’s effectiveness. Be intelligently selective about metrics: focus only on those that provide business value. "The way you develop your security strategy and align it to the...

When presenting security metrics to the CEO or board, a CISO should give them confidence that a strong action plan for responding to incidents is in place. The human element of information security is also important to highlight, so it’s wise to share metrics on...

Rather than presenting metrics that the CEO or board may not understand, a CISO should explain security trends of importance to the company. Visualizations such as infographics may aid in telling that story because they quickly capture executives’ attention....