Cybersecurity KPIs have always been an important way for organisations to measure risk, exposure, and progress. They also enable board discussions that are focused on powering the organisation, reducing risk and improving results. With geopolitical turbulence, increased use of AI, and regulatory challenges directly impacting organisations and individuals, establishing the right KPIs has become both more critical and more difficult to achieve.
In this new Peer Insights guide, five senior security leaders share their perspectives on how to ensure your organisation’s KPIs are effective, resilience-driven, and board-ready. The guide is designed to give you a broader understanding of what C-suite executives and board members are looking for from KPIs, and how to help the planning, decision-making, and communications process to create stronger cybersecurity defences.
Overview & Authors
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Helmut Reisinger
CEO EMEA
Palo Alto Networks
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Introduction – Welcome to a new way to think about cybersecurity KPIs
Cybersecurity KPIs have always been an important way for organisations to measure risk, exposure, and progress. A rapidly evolving threat landscape – further complicated by geopolitical turbulence, increased use of AI, and regulatory challenges – has made establishing the right KPIs all the more crucial and more difficult to do. Find out how to use both progress and effectiveness KPIs to generate a full picture of cyberhealth, and provide clarity on perhaps the most important cybersecurity measure of all: resilience.
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Sam Ainscow
Group CSO
Hill & Smith Group
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1. Preparing to present to the board: Getting your KPIs right is just the start
Getting the board to support your analysis of KPI metrics takes proactive preparation, skill, tact, and collaboration with the wider organisational community. What are the key steps that leaders can take to ensure the best outcome when presenting their results?
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Mario Beccia
Former Deputy CIO
NATO
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2. KPIs for public sector organisations: A different definition of risk
Public sector cybersecurity presents its own unique challenges, and so does the process of measuring its effectiveness. Without similar organisations to benchmark performance against, government organisations need to find new methods of creating and measuring KPIs. Find out how NATO approached establishing its cybersecurity KPIs, and explore risk-based scenarios to focus conversations on organisational and operational impacts.
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Richard Piercy
CIO
International SOS Pte Ltd
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3. A human-centric cybersecurity KPI framework
All organisations care a great deal about achieving good cybersecurity hygiene, but many policies and KPIs fail to address a critical yet often-overlooked topic: personal behaviour and the cyber hygiene of each worker throughout the organisation. Cybersecurity KPIs can help motivate the entire workforce to pay closer attention to cybersecurity and data protection – learn how to take a more human-centric approach.
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Siân John MBE
Former CTO
NCC Group
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4. What’s the next step in cybersecurity KPIs?
What’s next when it comes to cybersecurity KPIs? An increasingly complex and dynamic cybersecurity environment has already triggered a more sophisticated KPI development process, but organisations need to be prepared for what’s next. Emerging technologies, like Agentic AI, present new opportunities for cyberthreats. What new questions should the board be asking with AI? What do KPIs look like in the world of AI?
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