Holistic Cybersecurity: Key to Better Business Results

You can watch the video of this presentation here.

A holistic overview of the global, financial and operational risks a company faces is key to achieve the best outcomes for a business, said Miriam Serrato, Leader at WOMCY Mexico, during the Mexico Cybersecurity Summit 2021 held on June 16. “Organizations often see risks separately and solve them in isolation. If they saw and solved them as a whole, their growth would be exponential and the results would be even better,” she said. 

Cybersecurity breaches and digital inequality will be one of the top global risks to companies in less than two years, revealed a 2020 survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF). In three to five years, cybersecurity and technology could lead governments to fail and the infrastructure in sectors such as energy to collapse. In five to 10 years, the main threats will be adverse technological developments. “One of the problems and challenges we are already perceiving is the Infodemic, which is caused by the great abundance of information today. The number of countries that experienced organized social media manipulation campaigns increased by 150 percent last year,” warned Serrato. 

Due to the late adoption of digital solutions, many organizations around the world will create security breaches "simply because they do not have the knowledge and understanding of the technologies.” For companies to achieve better technology adoption, awareness strategies are necessary "because you cannot control what you do not know exists.” In addition, it is key to consider IT risks as part of the total business risk and to have hybrid profiles in teams and not be limited to people specialized in cybersecurity. Continuous training and investment in technological controls are also necessary, Serrato added. 

In Mexico, 63 percent of organizations considered themselves extremely or reasonably prepared in terms of cybersecurity but incidents have increased, revealed a 2021 study by NYCE and the Mexican Internet Association (AIMX). “The average cost of a breach is MX$1.2 million (US$ 59,877), in addition to non-quantitative impacts such as loss of reputation and customer trust,” she said. Companies that have implemented comprehensive cybersecurity strategies have had better attack response and containment capabilities, added Serrato. “Responsibility for security must come from the top of the organization so that sufficient resources are allocated and other areas such as operations, human resources, finance and administration are involved."