Oct 1, 2024

A New Directive for Boards: Hire More Women as Cybersecurity Leaders

Cybercrime is now a serious threat to businesses worldwide. As a market, it’s expected to grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025. If cybercrime were a GDP, it would be the third largest in the world, after the US and China. Companies are in an AI arms race, testing whether security teams can innovate faster than […]

Cybercrime is now a serious threat to businesses worldwide. As a market, it’s expected to grow to $10.5 trillion by 2025. If cybercrime were a GDP, it would be the third largest in the world, after the US and China. Companies are in an AI arms race, testing whether security teams can innovate faster than their adversaries. Security leaders see these risks. But many enterprise boards still have room to pair awareness with action.

For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Synack teamed up with Nasdaq and the Firstboard.io Cyber Council. Together we want to highlight the need for more cybersecurity expertise on boards. On Oct. 8, we’ll host an evening focused on elevating women in cybersecurity — with professional development, knowledge sharing, leadership insights, and discussion of emerging trends.

According to the WSJ, more board directors now have cybersecurity experience — a welcome trend. But it’s still far below where it should be. Cybersecurity experts hold only 2.3% of director seats in the S&P 500.

In the News: Compliance, Policy and Board-level Implications

At many public and private companies, CISOs are vital to managing security threats. Now boards of directors are expected to play a key role too. In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began to directly regulate boards of publicly traded companies. The rules require companies to “disclose material cybersecurity incidents they experience and to disclose on an annual basis material information regarding their cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance.”

Business leaders have weighed in too. Bethany Mayer, who sits on several notable public boards, champions the need for at least one board member with a cybersecurity background. She compares today’s cybersecurity crisis to the Enron scandal, which created demand for board members with finance experience — and new legislation.

At Black Hat 2024, one of the year’s most influential security conferences, CISA head Jen Easterly remarked: “We don’t have a cybersecurity problem. We have a software quality problem.”

Boards can help make sure product strategy is built on security. Easterly argues that companies should one day be liable for vulnerable software — a shift that could affect boards too.

Synack and Firstboard.io Partner to Highlight Women in Cybersecurity & Technology Leadership. One Could be Your Next Board Member.

To meet the clear need for more cybersecurity talent on boards, Synack published a paper with the Firstboard.io Cyber Council that highlights existing executive talent. These women shape the security and technology programs at some of the world’s most admired tech companies. The paper also gives practical guidance from the Cyber Council on how board members and CISOs can improve cybersecurity discussions at the board level.

To read the paper, click here.