Mike Fry of Logicalis outlines four critical questions that forums ask when supporting their data security teams.
Cybersecurity has temporarily evolved from a potential threat to an ever-present threat. According to Statista, more than 72% of international companies were affected by ransomware attacks last year. And when attacks are most likely to cause significant damage to reputation and money, the responsibility for cybersecurity falls to the IT team.
For any board member one step removed from day-to-day cyber-security operations, let’s look at the key questions to ask to give cyber-security the attention and support it needs and better protect the businesses.
1.What are the blind spots in our current approach?
Blind spots are not unusual in most companies. No strategy is immune to oversights, especially in the face of cybercriminals who constantly use their techniques to infiltrate companies.
For example, the most common type of cyberattack, phishing, is now being powered by AI to make attacks harder to detect and more powerful. This presents a challenge for corporations that want to figure out how to keep up.
One of the most significant blind spots for organizations is the shortage of professional staff. The World Economic Forum found that there is a global shortage of approximately four million cybersecurity professionals in its 2024 Global Security Outlook report.
Most businesses struggle to hire the talent they need, and cyber-security teams need to have solutions in place to bridge this gap.
Many businesses aiming for maximum security coverage invest in multiple tools. However, with an excess of tools running in parallel, they are not being managed cohesively. This siloed approach can result in significant gaps in coverage.
One area that board members need to understand is the need to optimize cybersecurity tools. This technique not only ensures physically powerful protection, but also ensures that investments are channeled into solutions of maximum efficiency and high impact.
Finally, in recent years, companies have exponentially increased their knowledge footprint, and this huge expansion makes it difficult for companies to have transparent visibility into all their virtual assets. This has provided criminals with wider attack surfaces and greater vulnerabilities.
This lack of wisdom makes it difficult to assess whether systems are patched and up-to-date, exposing companies to potential breaches. By maintaining an accurate and up-to-date inventory record, cybersecurity groups have a transparent view of the assets they want to protect.
2. Do we have the right tools, other people, and partners?
Detection is a very important component of any cybersecurity defense strategy. It’s not enough to protect data: real-time reactions to incidents and missteps are equally important. It is critical to know if groups have the proper equipment and components to detect an attack as soon as it occurs and prevent it immediately.
One overlooked domain is the organization’s chain of origin. With interconnected systems and external partners, the attack surface extends far beyond the company’s direct control.
Businesses should have a clear understanding of who their suppliers and vendors are, to ensure they follow strong robust cyber-security practices. This includes checking if partners have secure systems in place to protect your shared data. The growing focus on supply chain management, as mandated by regulations such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), highlights the need to manage the risks posed by suppliers.
3. Should we repair our data?
Cyber-attacks have become a matter of when and not if. So, when faced with situations where operations are disrupted, what is your business’s plan of action?
Where an attack is motivated by a ransom, businesses with robust recovery plans effectively undermine the hacker’s attempt as they can get back up and running without being held hostage.
Even when an attack is not directly financially motivated, a prolonged recovery period can have greater business consequences than the initial impact of the attack. Therefore, rapid recovery is crucial. Are there normal backups? Are they isolated from the network to prevent damage during an attack? Having this point of preparation is essential to reduce downtime and monetary losses.
4. How do we comply?
Compliance with regulatory needs is critical in today’s landscape and regulatory frameworks are becoming important. With the update of frameworks such as Regulation 2 on networks and information systems (NIS2), cybersecurity is now a primary fear across borders. The threat of non-compliance is multifaceted: corporations can face monetary penalties, legal consequences, and serious reputational damage.
To ensure compliance remains a more sensible priority, security teams will need to implement continuous and consistently nuanced processes. Security monitoring is an ongoing adventure and regular testing against frameworks such as the NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework is needed to assess progress. and identify areas for improvement.
Regular audits, incident reaction planning, and the use of the latest risk intelligence are best practices that support groups maintain in compliance and overall safety.
Permanent surveillance at management level
By asking the right questions, business leaders can start to feel more confident in their organisation’s stability. By working in close collaboration with the IT and security teams, board members can ensure their organisations are well-prepared to defend against and recover from cyber-attacks, minimising both financial loss and reputational damage.
Cybersecurity will have to become a central component of each and every company’s strategy – an ongoing adventure rather than a one-time investment.
Mike Fry is Security and Cloud Business Unit Director at Logicalis
Main symbol courtesy of iStockPhoto. com VioletaStoimenova
© 2025, Lyonsdown Limited. Business Reporter® is a registered trademark of Lyonsdown Ltd. VAT registration number: 830519543