Never settle: How CISOs can go beyond compliance standards to better protect their organizations

How to get buy-in from the board

The financial leaders who approve a CISO’s cybersecurity plan live in the area of risk. Every day, they make calculated bets on what will pay off for the business. The board will want to know what compliance standards you aren’t accounting for and the likelihood and impact in financial terms.

CISOs can assure them that a clean audit that checks all of the compliance boxes may be safe enough to show prospective clients, but resting there sets a standard of “good enough that doesn’t account for risks that may not be a part of the compliance standard for 2–3 more years. While these might sound like extras to the board, quantifying risk, comparing to competitors and calculating cost-optimal controls are key. For example, an awareness campaign, approval process or training module might be cheaper than adding additional software or point solutions around generative AI security and bring risk down to an acceptable level.

If your budget has already been approved without these focus areas in mind, now is the time to start weaving a risk-first approach into discussions with your board. You should be talking about this year-round, not only during budget season when it’s time to present your plan. It will position security as a way to protect revenue, improve capital efficiency, preserve treasury integrity and optimize costs, rather than a cost center.

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