Intangible assets like data and intellectual property now make up over 90% of S&P 500 company value. Cybersecurity's job is protecting these, not just preventing breaches. CISOs need to frame security to executives as what keeps the business running, competing, and serving customers.
Chapters
The value of cybersecurity is in protecting intangible assets. Now, take a look at this recent chart where over the past several decades, the value ratio between tangibles and intangibles has flipped. Intangible assets now account for over 90% of the S&P's total assets. And these include data, software, intellectual property, and the reputation of an organization for being available and safe. These assets are crucial to the biggest businesses and those who wanna join that community by becoming big themselves. It's no accident that the very core of cybersecurity has evolved to protect intangibles. That's where the value is migrated as part of digital transformation. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is a natural progression for security to align with protecting the most important assets. And communicating the value of cybersecurity can be really difficult. In fact, I find it to be one of the most challenging aspects in the cybersecurity field, uh, especially for new leaders. And as I talk with my peers out there, this is one of the things that most CISOs and cybersecurity leaders struggle with, especially when speaking to the C-suite— the CEO, CTO, CIO, um, as well as the board. So whenever in those situations, right, the message really should be clear when it comes to value. We can't omit addressing how security protects the fundamental core of the organization. Now, this is not the whole story, of course, as we deal in risk, right? There are many other aspects, uh, aspects of threats and likelihood, as well as the severity to those intangibles. So, um, you know, we have to look at that entire scale. It's never 1 or 0, it's always, you know, a range. And depending on your ability to respond, that can greatly affect that too. So This isn't the only discussion, but it is definitely part of it when we talk about how cybersecurity can impact and protect from negative impacts the core business or, you know, those intangible assets. So when somebody questions, why is security important? And unfortunately that happens a lot, right? We have to remember, we have to just be ready to talk about how it's protecting the ability of the organization to operate, to compete, to produce products, and to service customers. That's key when talking to these audiences that don't necessarily understand to great depths what risk is, right? This is why managing cyber risks is important and really what it protects. So keep this in your mental toolbox when you're speaking to audiences about the value of cybersecurity.
