EY's Global Cybersecurity Leader Talks Preventative Steps to Protect A Company

Cyberattacks are more prevalent than ever these days but there are steps organizations can take to protect sensitive information. Cheddar News senior reporter spoke Richard Watson, global cybersecurity leader at EY, during the 2023 RSA Conference where he talked about cyber preparedness and common attributes some of the most protected companies exhibit.&nbsp;

Closing Bell

Segment is brought to you by ei empowering today's leaders to realize tomorrow's opportunities. Jetter News recently spoke with EI to discuss how prepared companies feel to handle potential cyber attacks and the best ways for organizations to prevent attacks on their systems. Our Castillo found out more at the RSA conference. Take a look. Did a recent study of 500 global Sea Suite execs about their current cyber preparedness readiness for future and current attacks and their chief concerns. What surprised you the most? What surprised me the most, Michel was that after all this spend and time spent on cyber security, security leaders still feel very unprepared against the cyber threat. The survey said that only 42% of security leaders felt their organization was well equipped today to deal threats and only 12% were very satisfied that their organization was prepared. And when you looked at the threats of tomorrow, still just a lack of preparedness, 46% felt they were able to deal with the threats of tomorrow and only one in five are both satisfied with how they are today and how well set up they are for tomorrow. So we've still got a real level of dissatisfaction with cyber security in the world's largest organizations. So what are some of the hallmarks for companies that have effective programs? What we define effective really as being fewer cyber attacks responding more quickly to cyber attacks when they do occur. But importantly, having 1.5 to 2 times more impact on value creation and the organization's readiness to respond to market opportunity. What we found is organizations that are best set up in that way, they're adopting emerging technology sooner. They're taking a real focus on the supply chain, the ecosystem, the cloud, and they are really embedding security into the organization at large. And following a strategy of simplification of both technology and process. So from this, what are some of the key takeaways that are good for security leaders? Well, certainly you need to have a cyber transformation strategy that focuses on simplification, not just bolting on more technology, but really integrating technology simplifying infrastructure. Similarly, you need to thin out the supply chain, apply those forces to your organization so that there are fewer suppliers to deal with and those that you are really apply a cyber security assurance lens continuously over them. And then thirdly, you have to get cyber security embedded into all levels of the organization. People have to be brilliant at the basics and they have to really think about cyber security as the first thing they do when they do any work task it's embedded in their psyche. This segment was brought to you by E Y helping you realize your transformation through the power of people, technology and innovation, visit E Y dot com to learn more.