CEOs could take cyber defence lessons from US military

Global firms continue to be subjected to cyber crime as a result of errors committed by their very own users and network administrators, but a recent report reveals how CEOs could borrow strategy designed by the UK military and establish high-reliability organisations to defend themselves.

A Harvard Business Review article entitled ‘Cybersecurity’s Human Factor: Lessons from the Pentagon’, by David Upton, Christopher Kirchhoff, and James A. Winnefeld Jr., names six principles in the US military’s successful cyber defence strategy.

The report also suggests how these principles could be implemented in other organisations.

Upton said:

“A recent survey by Oxford University and the UK’s Centre for the Protection of the National Infrastructure found that concern for cybersecurity was significantly lower among managers inside the C-suite than among managers outside it. Such shortsightedness at the top is a serious problem.”

Upton went on to say that should CEOs fail to see the seriousness of cyber security threats, their employees will take the same stance. He added that CEOs need to have their leadership team, human resources, line management and technical directors to have IT systems, principles, and people all on the same page.

Today’s CEO undoubtedly has much responsibility in ensuring that their company is not the next victim of cyber crime. They only have to look at the recent Ashley Madison breach for an example of the consequences and, if IT security recruitment is not taken seriously, further examples may come closer to home.