CYBERSECURITY is an Infinite Game

There's no such thing as winning business. It doesn't exist. Right? But when we listen to the language of so many of our leaders, it becomes abundantly clear that they don't always know the game they're playing in. They talk about being number one, being the best, or beating their competition based on what, based on what agreed upon timeframes, metrics and objectives. And this is a problem because when we play with a finite mindset in an infinite game, when we play to win in a game that has no finish line, there are actually some very predictable and consistent outcomes. The big one being the decline of trust, the decline of cooperation, and the decline of innovation. And so we actually have to adjust our mindset to fit the game that we're playing. And in the case of cybersecurity, you're actually trying to prevent crime from happening. The criminals aren't trying to beat you, they're trying to do more. They're just trying to get more money. They're just trying to trick people. They just want access. They actually don't care about you and your cybersecurity. They're just trying to do more crime. Right? It's an infinite game, and you don't even know who all the criminals are. There's no such thing as winning cybersecurity. It doesn't exist. It's an ongoing cat and mouse game. And so you have to have the right mindset for the game you're playing. And in this case, it's not about winning. It's about constant improvement. And it goes back to that analogy that we discussed right at the beginning, when we talked about the lifestyle of business versus trying to treat it like a finite game. Right? Which is it's not. The end of the financial year doesn't symbolize the end of the game. It's just a marker. It's just a waypoint. And so all of these things that you and I have been discussing is all about constant improvement. You'll never be perfect at any of it, ever. That's not the point. The point is that you're constantly working to advance and you're constantly saying, how can we be better? How can we better relative not only to our, to the other players in the game, but also relative to the criminals in the game, because you could be the best, quote unquote, compared to all of your. The other companies in the marketplace. But if the criminals are smarter than you, then there's no point.

So I think that's to adjust our mindset to play for the game we're in, which is the game of business, and especially cybersecurity, which really is an infinite game, I think is really, really important.