Having the support of key business stakeholders is a requirement for the successful implementation and management of an information security program. Cybersecurity issues are ultimately the responsibility of the most powerful members of the business. Because of this, their full endorsement and support are required in all parts of the program. Gaining stakeholder support can often be easier said than done. The larger the business is, the more difficult this may become. The most effective way to get stakeholder buy-in is to tie cybersecurity to the accomplishment of the business's bottom line. The consequences of poor cybersecurity posture are best expressed in terms of overall impact on the business. For example, getting senior management support for a storage encryption solution may seem boring and wasteful when described to them in those terms. But providing them with a convincing breakdown of the catastrophic impacts that would arise from a breach of private data on company devices would certainly gain their attention.
To get consistent stakeholder support, businesses need to sell cybersecurity early on in these terms and regularly provide evidence that implemented measures are supporting the bottom line by defending the business from danger. Oftentimes, managerial personnel see cyberattacks as something that “won’t happen to them”. Descriptions of cyberattacks and threat actors can get so technical and over the top that they become unbelievable. To better drive home the reality of the dangers in today’s digital landscape, stakeholders should be presented with case studies that hit close to home. Information security sponsors should present reports on major cyber incidents that occurred in the business’s own local community. Threat intelligence can be gathered from other organizations in the same sector to highlight the urgency of improving cybersecurity.