Special thanks to guest author, Dominic Vogel

Many small and midsize organizations are stuck in mid-1990s thinking. Not about their business strategy per se but specifically that they think that they are immune to cyber attacks. They think they’re “too small” or that they don’t have anything that a cyber criminal would want.

Leaders need to change the narrative and start assuming data breaches will happen to their  organizations. Not adopting this mentality provides a false sense of security which inevitably leads to less than optimal security outcomes.

It is not a matter of “if” but a matter of “when” you will experience a significant cyber security attack or data breach. Preparing for that eventuality allows organizations to be in a position to deal with cyber security attacks or data breaches as minor road bumps rather than significant sinkholes.

Listen in as I discuss with the team at Incrementa (un)Consulting.

Another cyber security myth that I love busting is that cyber security is about buying the right technologies and treating it as a project. Thinking “we’ll buy this flashy new firewall and we’ll be totally secure” is point-in-time thinking and is poor risk management at best.

Cyber risk management is about integrating into the organization’s risk management program. Financial, operational and personnel risks should all be managed on a continual basis. Cyber security is no different. As your organization’s journey evolves and changes as does your cyber security program. Effective cyber security is malleable and morphs and changes alongside your organization’s business and growth strategy.

Enterprise and larger organizations are clamping down on supply chain risk by further strengthening their vendor risk management program. This trend is directly impacting smaller/midsize business to business (B2B) organizations. More stringent due diligence and stiffer contractual requirements around cyber security means that your contracts with your bigger customers is at increased risk of being lost!

This presents a clear business reason how ignoring your cyber security will directly impact your organization’s bottom line and growth. You will lose contracts to your competitors if you are not able to actively demonstrate that you have a robust cyber security program in your organization. We are entering a time when cyber security is increasingly becoming a competitive differentiator.

Ignore cyber security at your own peril. Invest in cyber security in order to enable growth strategies.