{"id":20474,"date":"2017-09-04T16:28:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T15:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=20474"},"modified":"2017-09-05T09:13:38","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T08:13:38","slug":"challenges-cyber-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/challenges-cyber-security\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge(s) of Cyber Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usually when faced with a real and present danger, we have a pretty good idea of how to react, even it\u2019s only by running away.<\/span><\/p>\n

So why does cyber-security seem to be such a difficult issue for us? Why is it, for example, that only 57% of UK Board<\/a>s have a clear understanding of the potential impacts of a serious cyber-incident on their business?<\/span><\/p>\n

There is obviously no simple answer, or we would have cracked the problem by now. I think that the following are some of the factors that continue to hold us back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nobody\u2019s sure what \u201ccyber\u201d actually means.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I have some sympathy with that view. It all sounds uncomfortably close to cyborgs<\/i> (and I had to look that up too). We all use the word with confidence and it\u2019s spawned a myriad of compounds (-risk, -space, -security and so on), but press the average punter, and I\u2019m sure that their eyes will glaze over (see my second point).<\/span><\/p>\n

By the way: some of us have tried to replace \u201ccyber\u201d with \u201cdigital\u201d. Same difference, unfortunately. In any case, it is too late\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s just for IT \u201cnerds\u201d<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

The nerds don\u2019t help us \u2013 or themselves – here. They want to own the territory, and they can take a delight in making it as inaccessible as possible to everybody else. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not to denigrate the role of IT specialists whose expertise is an essential component of managing cyber-risk. But I strongly believe that it\u2019s a fundamental mistake to see cyber-security as a purely technical, operational issue that is the sole responsibility of the IT function.\u00a0 <\/span>There are several reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n