Secure Board Communication and Cybersecurity Best Practices

Effective communication with board members is essential to ensure that directors are well-informed, involved and able to make informed decisions regarding the success of a company. Boards face the challenge of finding a balance between the need for effective communication as well as the need to protect sensitive information from cyber attacks.

Boards should make boardroomsolutions.org/best-driver-update-software use of secure collaboration tools such as board portals and messaging platforms in real-time to ensure that discussions confidential documents, sensitive discussions and other information private. This is becoming a priority as more businesses are impacted by breaches and hacks and regulators adopt new security standards.

Cybersecurity experts state that it’s not a matter of “if” an enterprise will experience an incident involving data, but rather “when.” A successful cybersecurity strategy includes a strong partnership between the board and the chief information security officer (CISO). CISOs should take advantage of every opportunity to communicate their strategy and vision with the board. This will allow them get board support for more effective cyberattack responses.

Many board members and other governance professionals rely on personal email to send internal communications regarding governance especially during virtual meetings. This puts organizations at more danger of phishing attacks as well as other cyberattacks targeting prominent individuals, such as directors and C-level executives.

It is vital to train your board members on the importance of cybersecurity best practices. This should include a review of the information that they share via insecure channels like meeting minutes or informal communications. It is also essential to make use of secure document sharing platforms that has encryption as well access controls to ensure that documents are not downloaded or copied from outside organizations.