what is it?
Cyber governance is the overall strategy describing the policies and processes of an information security program across all detection, prevention, and response activities. A cyber governance program is the business-supporting decision making process that governs the way an organization approaches cybersecurity. As your security program and posture improves, the need for cyber governance programs become more apparent due to their complexity and involvement in all aspects of business operations.
Some things to consider about cyber governance:
The decision to set up one of these programs is usually a decision that is made to better align decision-makers with information security objectives.
An organization that wants to have a security culture must include buy-in from senior leadership who make the decisions to implement security objectives. A governance program can help with that process.
Think of a cyber governance program as a dedicated set of subject matter experts all feeding relevant information to senior leadership so they can make the best decisions possible.
Good cyber governance means that leadership and the business are heavily invested and interested in the level of security maturity the organization is experiencing.
Setting up a cyber governance program does not need to be a complicated process. Often, this can be incorporated into other already existing governance programs or even into the audit or risk processes that currently exist within the organization.