In today’s digital age, CISOs face increasing pressure to protect their organisations from a barrage of cyber threats. In fact, the latest statistics from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) show the number of data breaches notified to the regulator in the first half of 2024 was at its highest in three and a half years.  

Yet, despite these mounting challenges, many CISOs remain fixated on vulnerabilities – compiling long lists of flaws that need fixing, often without communicating their relevance or potential business impact effectively. This approach leads to frustration and a devaluation of the security team’s worth in the eyes of business leaders, who fund security more out of a vague sense of moral obligation than financial necessity.  

To earn trust and secure critical funding, CISOs must shift their focus from technical issues to understanding security’s role as it impacts business risk. 

The disconnect between CISOs and business needs 

Vulnerabilities, on their own, aren’t inherently a risk; they become a risk when they can disrupt operations or compromise sensitive data. Without connecting vulnerabilities to real business impact, the message falls flat. 

For CISOs, the key is aligning security priorities with business goals. Business leaders care about one thing: ensuring the organisation’s ability to operate and generate revenue. Vulnerabilities only matter if they threaten that ability. CISOs should communicate how potential security failures could result in revenue loss, reputational damage, or regulatory fines. If CISOs don’t frame risks in terms of business loss, they risk becoming irrelevant. 

By framing discussions in terms of business risk and financial impact, CISOs can secure investment in security measures such as personnel, technology, or cyber insurance.  

These skills are key. CISOs often operate with limited resources. To maximise security investments, they must focus on protecting the most critical business assets rather than attempting to secure everything. The goal is to safeguard the organisation’s “crown jewels”—those systems and data that are vital to business operations. 

Learning from other industries: The value of measurement 

In effect, the business of security is a measurement game. It is in this that it falls down. 

While the industry is maturing and catching up, cybersecurity lags behind other industries like finance and healthcare in risk measurement – and it remains relatively insular. These fields regularly make high-stakes decisions based on incomplete information, guided by data and probability. CISOs should adopt similar methodologies, moving beyond simple vulnerability counts and embracing metrics that quantify risk in terms of financial loss or operational disruption. This shift from vulnerability management to risk-based security ensures that security investments are both capitally and operationally efficient. 

At its core, cybersecurity is about protecting the business, not just the technology. CISOs must build security programs that are measurable, aligned with business objectives and communicated in terms the board understands. This means quantifying risks in dollars and probabilities, not vague terms like “high” or “medium” risk. 

CISOs who can present risk in financial terms gain the trust of the C-suite and are better positioned to secure resources. This shift in approach is essential as businesses continue to evolve through digital transformation and AI. 

That’s why Qualys recently launched the Risk Operations Centre (ROC). Because a unified platform that consolidates risk factors, normalizes that data across the enterprise, applies business-driven prioritization, and orchestrates automated risk remediation is essential to shifting from the reactive firefighting of yesteryear to proactive risk management. 

Collaborating with business leaders: the key to trust 

The challenge of defining risk has often been seen as too hard. Part of the challenge is that often CISOs try to go it alone. Rather, they need to collaborate closely with other business leaders – CFOs, Chief Privacy Officers and General Counsels to align security with business goals. Through cross-functional collaboration, CISOs can better understand business priorities and quantify the potential impact of security risks. 

Take the example of a cloud-native company undergoing rapid digital transformation. It was only by engaging with stakeholders across various departments that it became clear that the company was managing over two billion records of personally identifiable information (PII) in its cloud environment – data that could trigger significant regulatory penalties if compromised – and that the insurance limit was nowhere near adequate. This wasn’t just about technical knowledge—it was about understanding business risk and speaking the right language.  

Conclusion: Elevating the role of the CISO 

The role of the CISO has evolved. To remain relevant, CISOs must transition from vulnerability managers to business enablers. This requires close collaboration with other business leaders and a strong understanding of the business’s objectives. By speaking the language of risk and aligning security with business priorities, CISOs can ensure their organisations thrive in an increasingly complex threat landscape. 

Security teams can no longer afford to be isolated from the business. As companies continue to innovate, the CISO’s role in protecting what matters most—business operations and value generation—has never been more critical.