Training

Cyber Readiness for Boards

by Mark Rowe

A Cyber Readiness for Boards project, jointly funded with £500,000 by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) through RISCS, and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, has been launched. Their aim; to guide those shaping UK board decisions around cyber risk.

Project lead and Director of the Research Institute in Science of Cyber Security (RISCS) Dr Madeline Carr (UCL Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy) said: “With the UK being the largest digital economy in the G20 and 83 per cent of UK critical infrastructure in private hands, the role of boards is central to cyber security. Understanding the decision-making process and the way that boards assess cyber risk will be fundamental to addressing some of the ongoing challenges we face – both here in the UK and globally.”

University College London, the University of Reading and Coventry University researchers are joined by the Research Institute in Science of Cyber Security (RISCS), the NCSC, Lloyd’s Register Foundation and RESILIA – a cyber security training provider, part of AXELOS Global Best Practice. They will initially work with six multinational companies. First year results are expected to be delivered from September and the project will conclude in September 2020. They will evaluate board level training interventions; assess how boards evaluate cyber risk ‘evidence’; look into the significance of board composition, accountability and responsibility; and study the impact of investor pressure on board decision-making on cyber risk.

Sarah Lyons, Deputy Director of the NCSC said: “We believe that cyber security is now a mainstream business risk. So corporate leaders need to understand what threats are out there, and what the most effective ways are of managing the risks. We have taken an evidence-based approach to developing our own board toolkit, and welcome new research into how UK boards make decisions around cyber risk. This research will help us refine and develop targeted guidance for business leaders, helping to make the UK the safest place to live and work online.”

Comment

Jake Moore at cyber security company ESET said: “With the number of data breaches increasing at such a rapid pace, any money thrown into the UK to help defend against these continual threats is an investment to better protect the future. However, it is not always about how much money is available in budgets to help with the support, so seeing University College London team up to align their resources can only be fortuitous. With estimates of cybercrime costing up to as much as £30billion a year, we are on the brink of an epidemic when it comes to protecting ourselves. Cyber criminals are fast paced and quick to react to new defences. Plus, there is no quick fix that will keep new threats out, so with the ever changing goalposts, the NCSC’s research and training could be an extremely valuable tool in the cyber security toolkit of businesses.”

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