Introduction
Cybersecurity has a communication problem and it’s costing us.
If CISOs want to earn trust, investment and influence, they need to speak the business’ love language. Within organisations, everyone has their own “love language.” Engineers speak in code. Product teams talk in features. Legal speaks in compliance. But in risk? There’s only one language that matters: money.
Yet too often, CISOs are still speaking in CVSS scores and technical metrics while the Board is listening for something else entirely: what is the financial risk or the potential impact to our revenue, reputation or operations?
New research confirms this disconnect. The 2025 State of Cyber Risk report reveals that while 49% of organisations have formal cyber risk management programs in place, only a third are aligned with business objectives and half of those tie board-level reports to financial outcomes.
That’s the real barrier to progress in 2025: we’re still trying to solve a business problem using technical language and cyber continues to be isolated from the conversations that shape real strategy because of this.
Cybersecurity is mainly a risk mitigation function. And to mature, we must evolve from measuring attack surfaces to quantifying risk surfaces — from counting vulnerabilities to calculating impact.
Until cybersecurity leaders start speaking that language and framing security in business terms, they’ll struggle to get the buy-in, budget, and board-level support they need, and deserve.
This is why risk quantification is the CISO’s secret weapon.
From Attack Surface to Risk Surface
Traditional security strategies focus on reducing the attack surface — patching vulnerabilities, protecting endpoints, and meeting compliance requirements. But to make smarter decisions, we need to broaden our view to the risk surface — the intersection of assets, threats, business context, and consequence.
That means moving beyond detection to direction. Instead of spreading limited resources thinly across every alert, CISOs must focus on what poses the greatest risk to the organisation’s bottom line. The most advanced organisations are doing this today with real-time telemetry, threat intelligence, and financial modelling. This is what we call money-minded CTEM: Continuous Threat Exposure Management that prioritises action based on business impact.
From Tech Debt to Vulnerability Debt — and the Cost of Inaction
One of the most effective ways to make risk real for business leaders is through the concept of vulnerability debt — the unresolved security issues that quietly build over time and that, left unaddressed, can turn into major financial and operational risk.
But the real priority isn’t the size of the backlog. Cyber resilience is about precision, not volume.
It’s about understanding and identifying the critical few – the 1-2% of assets that, if breached, would cost the organisation financially, reputationally, and operationally.
That’s where risk-based cybersecurity platforms like the Risk Operations Center (ROC) come in. By continuously aggregating telemetry across assets, vulnerabilities, and threat intelligence — and layering that with business context — these solutions enable CISOs to prioritise based on real-world impact, not just technical severity. This shifts the conversation from volume to value, helping security teams focus on what actually matters to the organisation.
Because getting $250,000 to fund remediation is hard to justify in isolation. But getting $250,000 to avoid a $10 million breach or regulatory fine – like those APRA is now enforcing more strictly in the wake of recent superannuation data breaches – is a much easier conversation with your CFO.
Vulnerability debt is a powerful lens for cyber risk quantification – yet only effective when paired with clear asset intelligence, business context, and financial modelling. Only then can CISOs move from technical reporting to strategic influence — and secure the support needed to drive real risk reduction.
A New Era of Integrated Cyber Decision-Making
Despite growing awareness, most CISOs still face an uphill battle for budget — not because the risks aren’t real, but because the value often isn’t clearly communicated. Too often, security is still perceived as a cost centre rather than a strategic enabler.
According to the same report, 90% of organisations present cyber risk to their board. Yet only 18% use integrated risk scenarios, and just 22% involve finance in the conversation. That’s not a reporting problem — it’s a collaboration problem.
To shift this dynamic, CISOs must bring the entire organisation on the journey — from IT and legal to finance and operations. Risk quantification is the bridge. By translating technical threats into financial impact, it engages the right stakeholders, aligns decisions, and helps unify efforts around what truly matters to the business.
In fact, we’re seeing growing board participation in cyber risk simulation exercises. These aren’t just table-top scenarios. They are operational rehearsals for what it would actually take to restore systems and reputations after a breach. That mindset shift is vital. But simulation alone isn’t enough.
As cloud adoption, generative AI, and digital transformation accelerate, the CISO’s job is no longer just about visibility — it’s about influence. Risk quantification delivers that influence. It enables security teams to show not just where the risk is, but why it matters — and what the return on risk reduction really looks like.
Conclusion
CISOs don’t need more dashboards — rather, they require a better, more business-aligned way to justify their strategic recommendations – and have the board sit up and listen. And they can achieve that by translating cyber risk into the only language that truly drives business action: dollars and cents.
If cybersecurity is a love letter, it’s not written in technical jargon and CVSS scores. It’s written in financial outcomes, measurable impact and risk reduced.
The most successful CISOs don’t just speak the language fluently – they own the conversation.
