Article | TREND NO. 3
Elevate your cybersecurity program: Integrating program management and governance
Aug. 1, 2024 · Authored by Jim Kearney, Ayo Ogunwale
In today's ever evolving cyber landscape, it has never been more critical to build strong security safeguards. In the face of increasingly complex cyber threats, businesses need to have proactive solutions in place to protect their assets and maintain regulatory compliance requirements to manage cybersecurity governance risk and compliance. This article dives into the intersection of governance and program management providing impactful methods for elevating your cybersecurity program. Embedding security by design, proof of concept validation, and continuous monitoring into your cybersecurity program improves resilience and effectiveness.
Method 1: Security by design
Value-add project example: Security by design can add value to organizations that are implementing new systems to achieve business goals.
Security by design involves incorporating security throughout the life cycle of your systems. By integrating least privileged access concepts, such as separation of duties and privileged access management support, from the beginning, management can create a strong cybersecurity foundation in systems. To create an effective cybersecurity program, it is vital to incorporate security at every stage of system implementation activities thereby proactively defending against potential security threats.
Ensuring that security considerations are part of the initial design phases helps reduce risks after implementation. For instance, incorporating security in user stories and adopting secure pipeline agile methodologies can ensure that security is included throughout the developmental stages. This approach aligns with The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF), which emphasizes the importance of identifying and protecting critical infrastructure.
Understanding your data and potential threats to your system allows your organization to create proactive defenses. Techniques such as whiteboarding sessions can help address security challenges before they escalate. Proactive defense approaches can be applied to regulatory compliance, data governance and incident response.
Integrating security early in the project life cycle often results in more resilient and cost-effective measures. It prevents the need for expensive upgrades of security measures later in the system life cycle. This approach ensures that potential vulnerabilities are addressed before they can be exploited, reducing the risk of costly security breaches.
