Jane Edwards
A new survey commissioned by Fidelis Cybersecurity says gaps exist between information technology professionals and board members in terms of cybersecurity knowledge and awareness of data breach incidents within their organizations.
The company said Tuesday the Defining the Gap: The Cybersecurity Governance Survey showed that 41 percent of board member respondents said they lack cybersecurity knowledge and nearly 20 percent of them said they are uncertain of previous data breaches in their companies.
Meanwhile, only 18 percent of IT executives surveyed believe in the effectiveness of their organizations’ governance practices against cyber threats and 54 percent of them said their organizations experienced intellectual property theft and other data breaches in the last two years.
“The gap in knowledge and limited visibility into breach activity means board members don’t have the information they need to make smart cybersecurity governance decisions, and IT security professionals don’t have the support – monetary or otherwise – to maintain a strong security posture,†said retired Brig. Gen. Jim Jaeger, chief cyber services strategist at Fidelis Cybersecurity.
The survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute also found that most IT security practitioners do not believe that board members recognize the cyber risks their companies face.
“Board members don’t need to be cyber experts, but they should have a thorough knowledge of the risks their organization faces and be able to provide the support needed for the security teams to protect against those risks,” Jaeger added.
