Closing the Cyber Risk Gap: What CISOs Think Executives Should Know

CISOs and business executives are often known to speak to each other like two radios tuned to different frequencies. At one end, CISOs are broadcasting warnings about data breaches and ransomware. On the other end, executives will always be more focussed on calculating investments and revenue projections.

The result? Critical signals get lost, and risks go unrecognised. In fact, 58% of CISOs admit they struggle to explain cybersecurity risks in business terms. And the consequences are drastic. On average, it costs around $4.9 million to recover from a data breach. 

But we have some good news too. This disconnect isn’t inevitable. With the right approach, CISOs can close the gap and get executives on the same page to make their businesses safe. 

In this article, we’ll break down the reasons behind this gap, explore what’s at stake, and share practical ways CISOs can make cyber risk a shared responsibility across the leadership table.

The Disconnect Between CISOs and Executives

Cybersecurity is not just a technical issue; it’s a business issue. Yet many executive teams still treat it as something separate. For CISOs to protect sensitive data, they need more than strong defences. They need to understand the problems with their communication with the executives. The issues mostly are from differences in how each side sees risks and urgency. 

Here’s why that misalignment happens: 

• Risk looks different from each seat. CISOs view risk as ongoing and complex, whereas executives often see it as occasional and financial.
• Security updates packed with technical terms don’t always translate into business impact and lead to confusion.
• The repercussions are unclear. What might seem like overspending to leadership may be a fraction of what a breach could cost.
• The measurement of success is subjective from both ends. CISOs focus on threat reduction; executives focus on financial performance.

3 Effective Ways to Bridge the Gap 

CISOs need to meet executives where they are. To do this, they need to simplify their communication and focus on consequences. Here are the key ways to do so:

1. Turn Alerts Into Impact Statements

Security alerts are often highly technical – attack methods, IP addresses, ports, and network protocols. All such details can be difficult for non-technical people to understand. 

CISOs can use tools like SIEM, IDS/IPS, or EDR to highlight clear business risks. For example, a privilege escalation attempt should not just be reported as a system alert. It should be communicated clearly that an attacker might be targeting sensitive customer or financial data. 

Instead of sharing alerts as they are, describing the situation in business terms can help. To do this, you can state what’s happening, what systems are at risk, and what the impact could be.

2. Use Business-Focused Metrics

Traditional security reports focus on counts, like malware detections or unpatched systems. These don’t tell executives much about actual risk. Here, using metrics that reflect business impact can be quite helpful. Tools like risk heatmaps and attack surface management can help translate technical data into real exposure. 

For instance, instead of saying, “We have 15 critical vulnerabilities,” say, “Hackers could use three of these to access customer information.” What matters is not just how many issues exist, but where they are, how dangerous they are, and what they could cost the business.

3. Align Security to Business Goal

Security shouldn’t run separately from the rest of the business. After all, it is one of the most important aspects. Controls like encryption, access management, or monitoring should support key business goals. 

Take a globally growing business as an example. Here, aligning security with regional laws and threat environments can be very important. It can help you avoid costly delays, fines, or breaches that could impact growth.  

What Should Executives Know? 

For CISOs to succeed, executive leadership must understand key cybersecurity facts. They should know that these realities impact the entire business. Here’s what every executive should keep in mind:

1. Cybersecurity is a Business Risk

Cyber threats don’t just target systems. They are a threat to revenue, reputation, and operations. A ransomware attack can halt the entire production. It can even result in the leaking of customer data, due to which investor confidence can be damaged. And these threats aren’t rare. Around 4,000 cyber attacks happen every single day. 

So, executives should take cybersecurity seriously. It is as important as other business risks. They need to understand that this is not just an IT issue. Instead, it can have long-term impacts on the entire company. If you present cyber risks in this light, they can get the deserved attention and resources. 

2. Breaches are Inevitable

There’s no such thing as a perfect defence. Even the most mature organisations get breached. What matters is how fast you detect the threat and respond to it. Slow reactions lead to greater damage. This is why executives should invest in response readiness in addition to prevention. 

To have an incident response plan that actually works in real-world crisis, teams should regularly rehearse them through cyber attack drills. Plus, well-defined roles and fast decision-making structures can help. It may be impossible to avoid breaches completely, but through preparation, you can reduce their impact.

3. Compliance Does Not Equate to Security

Meeting regulatory requirements is important, but it’s only a baseline. Compliance checklists can fail to cover evolving threats, zero-day attacks, or targeted campaigns. True security goes beyond audits – it requires continuous improvement and real-time monitoring. 

Executives should ask: Are we secure, or just compliant? This can protect against damage worth millions of dollars. 

4. Investment in Prevention Costs Less Than Breach Recovery

Recovering from a data breach can cost you millions of dollars. It can push you to suffer fines, lawsuits, loss of customers, and damage to the brand. This is why early investments in security and detection cannot be avoided. 

These help in reducing the risk and impact of attacks. Executives who prioritise prevention can protect data and their position in the market as well. 

5. Diverse Leadership Improves Security Outcomes

Security teams need varied perspectives. When you bring together people from different backgrounds and disciplines, the result is smarter, faster problem-solving. And don’t think it is just a feel-good strategy; it is measurable. Diverse teams actually outperform homogeneous ones by 35% in terms of decision-making and innovation. 

Threats are always changing. To keep up, your response strategies need fresh thinking, not just repetition. That evolution happens faster when you have a team that doesn’t all think the same way. 

Executives should take diversity seriously, not just as a company value but as a security strength. The more varied your leadership, the better equipped you are to see blind spots and respond effectively.

6. Mobile Devices Deserve Equal Priority

As remote and hybrid work grows, mobile devices have become essential, but also risky. They hold sensitive data and are harder to manage. Ignoring them creates security gaps. Executives should pay equal importance to these devices as they do to desktops and laptops. The use of encryption, antivirus, and remote wiping for mobile devices can ensure security.