The CIO and CISO must work together to ensure that the appropriate level of cybersecurity is applied to the organization. Still, for the CISO, this involves looking at things from a different perspective. Business executives want to know not only how security can keep them secure but also how it can increase the productivity of their company.

The only evidence apparent is during or after an obvious malware assault or a big data breach that has been averted; hence cybersecurity professionals are stuck defending their “Return on Investment.”

Estimating the return on investment in cyber security is akin to trying out new parachutes or safety belts. It can’t be justified unless and until the harm has been done.

Justifying the return on security investment was never a big deal until recently. By frequently publishing all of the newest breaches, ransomware attacks, and software vulnerabilities, news headlines very much performed the job.

This helped to justify the additional protection layers, which helped to mitigate the risk of their company becoming a future news story. Things have changed now that the globe has entered a new era of remote working during the lockdown.

The security-first mentality is still important and well-regarded by board members, but finances are constantly evaluated and tightened. Even before the shutdown, this was a problem, but now that CISOs must modernize workplaces with improved physical security, things are growing even more difficult.

The CTO and CISO collaborate on security project decisions, meeting on a regular basis to discuss risk management and money allocation.

This is changing; while security is still important, the company increasingly wants to assess and apply risk at all levels of the organization.

The CIO and CISO must work together to ensure that the appropriate level of cybersecurity is applied to the organization. Still, for the CISO, this involves looking at things from a different perspective. Business executives want to know not only how security can keep them secure but also how it can increase the productivity of their company.

Security must evolve into an outcome-driven, measurable, SLA-based consideration rather than just a proven means of preventing breaches. To do so, a thorough examination of more than just basic security information is required.

Data from devices, the network, and any external sources are all needed to refine security deliverables into something that demonstrates business value and hence justifies the ROI on a regular basis.

Fortunately, there are some areas where one may concentrate on obtaining a clearer picture of security ROI. Although there will never be a perfect answer to this problem, it is easier to start a business discourse to support future investments by thinking of them as a risk-plus consequence combo.

However, because building an ROI model takes a long time, it is critical to focus on a straightforward security project that would provide a significant return on investment to the organization if proven successful.

In any organization, awareness is very important because this is where data theft, ransomware, and other threats begin. BEC (Business Email Compromise) is on the rise and, according to some estimations, might have accounted for over half of all cybercrime damages in the United States in 2019. And, this has been growing eversince with expanding risk landscape.

Only presenting deliverables or technical metrics might make it difficult for the security team to accurately demonstrate their commercial value, resulting in project delays or even project cancellation.

But, in the end, it all comes down to a company’s risk appetite and establishing a substantial number to show maturity and help with future investments.

The following factors can be used to calculate the return on cybersecurity investments:

• Agree on security KPIs that are clearly defined and risk-based.
• Understanding how the company wants to handle risk at all levels of the organization – and sending a clear message – is critical for balancing risk with the speed of innovation versus the customer experience.
• Businesses, not only security teams, bear the ultimate responsibility for risk. Ensure that security KPIs are measured against all different types of business leaders, not just the CISO or CIO.

These suggestions are by no means exhaustive, but they can serve as,  a good starting point.

While determining and comprehending security ROI may appear difficult at first, the path to success begins with small, clearly stated project goals. Expecting 100 percent accuracy may be unreasonable, but it is possible to attain over time as new data improves the model, allowing the organization to demonstrate a good return on investment in security.

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