RESEARCH REPORT
The Cyber-Resilient CEO
How confident CEOs are taking charge of cybersecurity
October 5, 2023
RESEARCH REPORT
How confident CEOs are taking charge of cybersecurity
October 5, 2023
When we asked CEOs about disruptive forces that are creating cyber vulnerabilities for their organizations, they identified:
Recognition of the financial losses, reputational damage and operational disruptions that can arise from cyberattacks is fueling a growing sense of urgency:
A majority (96%) of CEOs understand the importance of cybersecurity as a key business enabler but only 33% have deep knowledge of the evolving cyber threat landscape.
Our cyber-resilient CEO action index, comprising 25 practices that measure cyber resilience, identified a small group (5%) of CEOs that lead on cybersecurity resilience. This group—we call them cyber-resilient CEOs—uses a wider lens to assess cybersecurity across their organizations including talent, innovation, sustainability and customers.
Cyber-resilient CEOs act confidently and can detect, contain and remediate threats faster—their breach costs are around 2X to 3X lower than their peers. Cyber-resilient CEOs adopt enterprise-wide strategies to reinvent their functions and business units and embed security in their strategies from the outset.
As a result of this approach, cyber-resilient CEOs, on average, are achieving higher business value than their peers.
2X-3X
Lower breach costs than peers
16%
Higher incremental revenue growth
21%
More cost reduction improvements
19%
Healthier balance sheet improvements
By applying the following five actions, CEOs can shift from viewing cybersecurity as a purely technical function—handled by IT alone—to elevating it to an organization-wide priority—establishing processes for reporting and accountability from the C-suite to the board.
>70%
endorse cybersecurity as a strategic business enabler
62%
actively cultivate a cybersecurity-first culture
76%
intend to boost their cybersecurity budget for emerging technologies
64%
promote an enterprise-wide risk approach to protect assets and operations
60%
enhance cyber performance benchmarks to keep pace with evolving threat landscape
In the face of today’s cyberthreat complexities, cybersecurity needs to be a CEO priority. It keeps business operations running smoothly, helps organization’s optimize performance and secures customer and supplier relationships. CEOs that sideline cybersecurity expose their organizations to more risk.
Download the research to explore how CEOs can minimize risk and put cyber resilience at the heart of their reinvention efforts.