Internal communication gaps leave enterprises vulnerable to attack

A new report shows that CISOs find it difficult to communicate threats to the C-suite, which is leaving gaps in the organization’s understanding of cyberrisk.

The study from Dynatrace reveals that 87 percent of CISOs say application security is a blind spot at the CEO and board level.

On the other side, seven out of 10 C-suite executives interviewed say security teams talk in technical terms without providing business context. However, 75 percent of CISOs say the issue is rooted in security tools that cannot generate insights C-level executives and boards of directors can use to understand business risks and prevent threats.

The report finds 72 percent of CISOs say their organization has experienced an application security incident in the past two years. These incidents carry significant risk, with CISOs highlighting the common consequences they’ve experienced, including impacted revenue (47 percent), regulatory fines (36 percent), and lost market share (28 percent).

Addressing this technology and communications gap is becoming more critical as the rise of AI-driven attacks and advanced cyber threats significantly increase business risk. 52 percent of CISOs are concerned about AI's potential to enable cybercriminals to create new exploits faster and execute them on a broader scale.

“Cybersecurity incidents can have devastating consequences for organizations and their customers, so the issue has rightfully become a critical board-level concern," says Bernd Greifeneder, chief technology officer at Dynatrace. "However, many CISOs are struggling to drive alignment between security teams and senior executives because they're unable to elevate the conversation from bits and bytes to specific business risks. CISOs urgently need to find a way to overcome this barrier and create a culture of shared responsibility for cybersecurity. This will be critical to improving their ability to respond effectively to security incidents and minimize their risk exposure."

As they look for solutions, 83 percent of CISOs say DevSecOps automation is more important to manage the risk of vulnerabilities introduced by AI. Additionally, 71 percent of CISOs say DevSecOps automation is critical to ensuring reasonable measures have been taken to minimize application security risk.

You can get the full report from the Dynatrace site.

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