How Leading CISOs are Getting Budget Approval

"It's budget season. Once again, security is being questioned, scrutinized, or deprioritized. If you're a CISO or security leader, you've likely found yourself explaining why your program matters, why a given tool or headcount is essential, and how the next breach is one blind spot away. But these arguments often fall short unless they're framed in a way the board can understand and appreciate."

"According to a Gartner analysis, 88% of Boards see cybersecurity as a business risk, rather than an IT issue, yet many security leaders still struggle to raise the profile of cybersecurity within the organization. For security issues to resonate amongst the Board you need to speak its language: business continuity, compliance, and cost impact. Below are some strategies to help you frame the conversation, transforming the technical and complex into clear business directives."

"Cyber threats continue to evolve, from ransomware and supply chain attacks to advanced persistent threats. Both large enterprises and mid-sized organizations are targets. The business impact of a breach is significant. It disrupts operations, damages reputation, and incurs substantial penalties. To avoid this, organizations must adopt a proactive approach like continuous threat exposure management. Ongoing validation through frequent, automated testing helps identify new attack vectors before they escalate."

Budget decisions require framing cybersecurity as a business imperative tied to revenue protection, uptime, compliance, and cost containment. Evolving threats—ransomware, supply chain attacks, and APTs—target organizations of all sizes and can disrupt operations, harm reputation, and trigger penalties. Prioritization should be risk-focused and aligned to business objectives, with measurable KPIs such as time to detect and remediate. Roadmaps should map to major business initiatives like system rollouts and M&A. Adopt proactive controls like continuous threat exposure management and frequent automated validation to identify new attack vectors before escalation and justify budget through clear business outcomes.

Read at The Hacker News