Should Fortune 500 firms be looking to add cyber security expertise to their boards?
That is a question raised by Alec Ross, a Senior Fellow at the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs. In an interesting piece “Sony Hack Attacks Presage New Warfare: The Weaponization of Code“, Ross observes that “Any big company can be brought to its knees by an aggrieved party.”
One thing that needs to go on every Fortune 500 board chairman’s to do list is to start a search for a board member with cyber expertise. About 10 years ago it became near-mandatory for every board of directors to have a member with expertise in the audit function. In five years, any board of directors without a board director with expertise in cyber will be perceived as a shortcoming of corporate governance.
At The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit [June 1-3, Toronto], there will be a special session looking at “Cyber Security” moderated by Radware’s VP of Security Solutions, Carl Herberger.
As Ross wrote, “every large company needs to recognize that cyber offense is easier than cyber defense.” Policy makers and corporate leaders need to understand what can be done – indeed, what needs to be done – to bolster cyber defense capabilities.