Cyber Security Training For Executives

The fast-paced advancement of technology, the continuously evolving threat landscape, and rapidly changing compliance requirements all contribute to the increased need for boards and executives to have a deep understanding of cybersecurity. To ensure they are equipped to make informed decisions that protect their assets and customers, and support their business strategies, it is essential for boards and executives to stay up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity trends and practices.

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Training that goes far beyond basic awareness

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Know Your Threats

Stay informed about the potential risks to yourself, your business and your industry, affording you the capability to make more efficient and cost-effective decisions when implementing strategies to reduce those risks.

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Defend Against Attacks

By understanding the attacks directed at you, you can easily identify them when they occur and respond quickly and effectively, reducing the risk that you and your business will be negatively impacted by these attacks.

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Build Cyber Resilience

Having a comprehensive understanding of the potential impacts that can result from a cyber attack or breach is crucial for building effective business continuity plans, reducing disruptions to critical operations.

Understand threats, mitigate risk

With the continued rise in the frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks, rapid digital transformation, and the growing reliance on technology and data, the potential impact of cyber-attack is more serious than ever. It is crucial for boards and senior executives to understand the potential threats that face their organisation and how to protect against them. Failing to adequately prepare for and respond to cyber attacks can have serious consequences, including financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liability.

We are seeing a rapid change in compliance requirements, and penalties for non-compliance or not taking adequate steps to protect your organisation are becoming more common. However, understanding the threat actors who target your enterprise, their motives, expected gains, and attack methods requires specialised expertise and knowledge. Without this awareness, it is difficult to establish how your specific business can mitigate the risks posed by these threats.

Boards and executive teams are starting to acknowledge the significance cybersecurity in their organisations, but gaining proficiency in cybersecurity for executives can be daunting for numerous reasons.

Executives are primary targets – Due to their roles and responsibilities in overseeing an organisation, executives and board members are granted access to sensitive financial and confidential documents. This makes them prime targets for threat actors who aim to compromise them directly as it can result in a more significant payout. Executives and board members need to understand the various types of attacks they may encounter, how to recognise these attacks, and how to defend against them.

Know the right questions to ask – To gain an understanding of the current security posture throughout an organisation, the board must be well-versed in the relevant questions to ask. Similar to comprehending a business’s financial state to make prudent financial judgments to successfully guide the company, they must understand the cyber posture, strategic progress, plans, and potential issues that may arise. In doing so, they can provide direction for the cybersecurity strategy from the top, which is essential for the successful implementation of cybersecurity measures throughout an organisation.

Understand your threats – As every business is unique, so too are the threats they face. Varying threat actors will have distinct objectives and strategies when targeting different organisations. It is crucial for executives and board members to understand the identity and motivation of these threat actors, as well as the potential consequences of a successful attack on their company. The outcome of a successful attack can result in a range of consequences for a business, including financial losses, legal ramifications, damage to reputation, dissatisfaction among shareholders, or breach of compliance obligations, which may lead to loss of licenses or fines. The repercussions from a breach could have adverse consequences for the organisation or even for the executive or board member personally.

Ensure business continuity after a breach – Having a clear understanding of how a business can be impacted by cyber threats plays a crucial role in enhancing its cyber resilience. Business continuity is essential for a company’s survival in the aftermath of a security breach. Therefore understanding the potential impacts of a breach is critical to support executive and board decisions when determining appropriate funding and business continuity strategies.

Adopt new technology without the risk – In today’s highly competitive markets, the ability to adopt emerging technologies is critical for the advancement of an organisation. However, while new technologies offer opportunities and innovation, they also come with inherent risks. Take, for example, the sudden surge in accessible artificial intelligence (AI) products. AI presents limitless potential for businesses to streamline processes and perform tasks that were previously impossible or too costly. But it also brings security risks, such as the potential exposure of sensitive organisational data. Staying informed about emerging technologies and their potential risks is essential for boards and executives to make informed decisions that allow their businesses to thrive while limiting their exposure.

Meet your evolving compliance obligations – With the rapid emergence of new technologies and the proliferation of data, compliance frameworks are evolving rapidly. To fulfil their roles and responsibilities, executives and board members must be cognizant of their compliance requirements and ensure that they are adequately addressed. Non-compliance can result in significant consequences for the organisation, making it critical to prioritise compliance efforts.

Be prepared for a breach – The media is flooded daily with news of new security breaches, and some argue that it’s not a matter of if, but when a breach will occur. Being prepared for a breach and knowing how to respond to it can be one of the most critical components of a comprehensive security strategy. A swift and well-managed response can help mitigate the impact of a breach, transforming it from a potential extinction event for an organisation into a mere inconvenience. Executives and boards must understand their roles and responsibilities with regard to an incident. This includes knowing what is expected of them and how the incident will be handled. Incidents are high-pressure scenarios where quick decisions must be made that can have enormous consequences for the organisation. Attempting to learn the process or make a decision about a scenario that one never expected to encounter during an incident is not ideal. Being prepared ahead of time for each potential scenario is crucial. It ensures that one is ready to act if the need arises.

However, acquiring this knowledge and understanding takes time, and historically, these skills have not been a typical part of an executive or board member’s professional background. A study conducted by the UNSW Institute for Cybersecurity in October 2022 found that only 0.8% of board members in the ASX 100 had any cybersecurity experience. As a result, boards must rely heavily on input from either experienced internal resources or external cybersecurity specialists as most cyber security training for executives targets basic awareness training and doesn’t address these executive concerns.

How we can help…

We recognise that running a successful business is challenging, and cybersecurity concerns only add to the pressure. We have worked in executive roles and management teams, and we have delivered presentations to numerous boards on cybersecurity threats and risks that are specific to their industries. We understand that managing risk at the executive level requires understanding how cyber risk corresponds to business risk.

Our proficiency in both cyber and business enables us to engage in deep discussions that take highly technical attack vectors and convert them into how they affect your strategic objectives and your business. We can then prioritise the reduction of risks based on your business-level risk tolerances.

Based on our experience and roles in senior management and executive positions, we have designed our cyber security training to share our knowledge with your executives and board of directors to equip them with the necessary skills to plan and respond to changes in your specific threat landscape. Through ongoing training and interaction, we keep your team informed about current and emerging threats that could impact your business. This also provides an opportunity for your team to seek advice and address any concerns they may have. The ultimate outcome is to enhance your team’s cyber skills and literacy.

Our training program aims to educate your executive team and board on their responsibilities related to cybersecurity compliance requirements and their implications, including planned changes that could substantially affect your business. This covers legislative and regulatory compliance requirements, both in Australia and in foreign markets, such as GDPR. Discussions for Australian-based businesses include topics such as director responsibilities under the Privacy Act 1988 and Section 180 of the Corporations Act 2001, and how cybersecurity impacts their care and diligence requirements.

It is crucial for executives and board members to ask the right questions about cybersecurity. This ensures the ongoing secure functioning of an organisation. At Morrisec, we invest our time in educating executives and board members on the important questions they need to ask, and most importantly, why they are asking them. With this knowledge, they are empowered to make critical decisions that promote smooth and secure operations, reduce cyber risk, and reduce the impact of any potential breaches.

Understanding your threat profile is critical, including the threat actors who target your organisation and industry. Most cyber security training for executives excludes threat landscape discussions, but understanding your threats is critical for the overall picture. At Morrisec, we ensure that you have a clear understanding of your adversaries so that you can make informed decisions about how to defend against their threats and where to allocate resources and investment. Through experience, we have seen how your threats can extend well beyond your specific industry. If you provide services to other industries, you must be aware of threats to those industries as well. Threat actors may target you as a vulnerable point of entry to compromise another organisation you work with. Therefore, we provide guidance on relevant threats that may impact you as a third-party supplier.

Due to their access to finances and other sensitive information, executives and board members are commonly the main victims of targeted attacks. We dedicate time to educate you on the various tactics and techniques employed by threat actors, allowing you to be better equipped to identify attacks when they occur, and know how to effectively defend against them.

One of the most popular and engaging components of our ongoing training is facilitated discussions around emerging technology, emerging threats, recent breaches and other cybersecurity news that constantly flood the media. Executive and board members often have questions about what they see in the media, or discussions they have had with the business about new technology and other areas that may impact business objectives. Board meetings rarely have the opportunity to have a cybersecurity expert present to answer pressing questions. Based on our extensive experience working with various boards, we have received feedback that this aspect of our training program is highly valuable. It provides an avenue for businesses to ask important questions, gain a better understanding of the current media and industry landscape, and discuss topics that will promote greater understanding and aid in making informed business decisions. A recent prime example of this is the emergence of AI and its potential positive and negative impacts on businesses.

Knowing the potential consequences of a cyber breach is crucial for an organisation to develop business continuity plans that ensure cyber resilience. Additionally, understanding these consequences empowers you to make incident response decisions proactively. With knowledge of each potential scenario, you can take your time to carefully consider and plan the best response. By doing this before a high-stress, time-critical incident, you can think through your responses, evaluate how each response will impact the incident and the business, and determine the most effective course of action. During our executive training at Morrisec, we conduct interactive discussions on different threat types and their appropriate responses. Making the wrong decisions when responding to a cyber threat can have long-term and severe consequences for your organisation. Therefore, by providing you with the opportunity to think through and discuss these scenarios with our highly experienced cybersecurity experts, you can make informed decisions beforehand. This ensures that when the time comes to make those critical decisions, you already have a plan in place and are not compelled to make hasty and potentially disastrous choices.

Morrisec’s cyber security training for executives equips your team with the skills and knowledge to reduce cyber risk and protect your business in the present and future. As technology continues to evolve and new threats emerge, our training ensures your team stays up-to-date and equipped to handle any potential risks to your organisation.

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Be proactive in safeguarding your business

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Be Prepared

Anticipate incidents and prepare your responses ahead of time. Avoid making snap decisions under pressure during a crisis by planning ahead and understanding the full range of possible responses and outcomes.

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Always Comply

Keep yourself and your business up-to-date with changing regulations that could affect you personally or professionally. Stay informed about your compliance requirements, both now and in the future, to avoid potential penalties or negative impacts on your business operations.

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Support Growth

Understand how new technologies impact your security posture and make informed decisions that align with your organisation’s risk appetite. By managing your risks effectively, you can embrace innovation and drive your business forward with confidence.

Building Your Cyber Knowledge

Start building your cyber knowledge today. Understand the threat actors that target you, the risks they pose to your business, and how you can counter their attacks.

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