In honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we sat down with Monica Landen, Diligent’s Chief Information Security Officer, to discuss the current state of cybersecurity and how companies can make cyber risk an organization-wide imperative.

Q. Cybersecurity is a top concern for companies today. How can organizations strengthen their cybersecurity strategies and programs?

A. One of the biggest challenges across industries is the tech talent shortage. Four million professionals are needed to fill the global cybersecurity workforce gap, and according to an 

, 70% of organizations say the cybersecurity skills shortage creates additional risks for their companies. Industries focusing on building strong cybersecurity practices need to ensure they have the talent to address security challenges.

Beyond that, companies should focus on the basics. This includes patching and updating software, adopting phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, and access management. It’s easy to get distracted by shiny new technologies, but having a strong cybersecurity foundation is essential in protecting organizations from the most common threats.

Q. Are there industries that should be focusing more on cybersecurity than others?

A. Every industry should prioritize cybersecurity. However, sectors like healthcare, finance, and government agencies are especially vulnerable due to the nature of the data they handle and the direct impact on people’s lives. Unfortunately, many startups and smaller firms tend to prioritize rapid growth over security, thinking they won’t be targeted because of their size or lack of brand recognition. The reality is that cybercriminals often target smaller companies because they are seen as the weaker link.

Q. What advice do you have for CISOs when communicating cyber risks to the board?

A. It’s important to communicate in plain language. Many board members see cybersecurity as a “black box” and don’t know where the organization stands until an incident occurs. I recommend focusing on five key areas: industry trends, how they apply to the company, past security incidents, lessons learned, and the overall maturity and operational effectiveness of the cybersecurity program. Boards want to know the business impact of cyber risk. Quantifying risk and tying outcomes to financials can help drive home the importance of cybersecurity measures. 

Cybersecurity is already a top risk for most businesses, and this will only increase in importance. Boards will need to focus on cyber literacy, and I predict it will soon be a requirement to have cybersecurity experts on every board. In addition, CISOs must possess strong business and financial acumen to effectively communicate with boards, aligning business strategies with organizational goals.

Q. Lastly, how can organizations build a stronger security culture?

A. Cybersecurity needs to be a priority for everyone, not just the security team. October is a great time to kick off these conversations, but it shouldn’t be limited to just one month. Organizations should hold regular awareness sessions, with executive leadership actively leading and promoting these efforts. When the message comes from the top, it’s more likely to be taken seriously across the organization.

This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we encourage organizations to reflect on their security strategies and consider how they can foster a stronger security culture across the business. Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, and as Monica reminds us, it starts with the basics and a commitment from leadership.

Diligent Q&A – Kicking off Cybersecurity Awareness Month with Monica Landen 

Around us and every day, we witness visible examples of ethical behavior: from returning lost money to taking responsibility for a workplace error. But it’s the unethical behavior that makes the headlines. This is the reality that board members of a public entity face. Citizens want integrity, accountability and transparency from elected leaders.

Rather than being legally prescribed, ethics are born from the moral principles that guide us. Not only are they literally “the right thing to do,” but understanding and modeling ethical behavior is important to keep your public school district, city or community college trusted and respected.

Let’s explore what it takes to build an ethical board, common missteps boards can make and how technology can support ethical governance.

Building an ethical board takes work but it is not an impossible effort if you implement the following:

. The process of developing an ethical board begins with shared understanding, and that means scheduling regular discussions as part of a board agenda. Materials developed for these early efforts can be saved to share with future board members.

Understand (or create) the code of ethics

. Most publicly elected boards already have a code of ethics. If yours doesn’t — or if it’s been a long time since it was reviewed — it’s time to take a fresh look. Having and following and committing to the code of ethics is a critical way to 

 Onboarding training is important to get every new board member on the same page. But training shouldn’t stop after the first few months or first few completed check boxes. Ongoing training offers refreshers in expectations and learning. For example, boards can regularly discuss hypothetical ethical situations and how to handle them according to the code of ethics.

 Most boards must follow some type of open meetings requirements, and making meetings, documents and communications easily accessible to the community not only helps meet those requirements but helps the board’s activities be transparent. 

 in North Carolina are two examples of boards that pursued solutions to increase district transparency. What is the process when an accusation is made regarding a board member? Do you have a policy on this process?

Develop and cooperate with accountability mechanisms

: Audits and similar reviews take time and, like any 

, can cause concern. But for a board committed to ethical behavior, it’s better to learn about potential issues as soon as possible and from a trusted source.

 Ensure you have the right mechanisms to hear diverse voices from your community, and that diverse voices are encouraged to run for office.

Even with the best intentions, boards and board members can make common errors when striving to embody ethical behaviors.

Conflicts of interest are one of the most common ethical lapses in board service. At any time, there are numerous 

 about school boards or city councils dealing with fallout from perceived conflicts of interest in past decision-making. To avoid these scenarios, public bodies should collect information about possible conflicts from their members regularly and have recurring discussions on the board agenda about examples of conflicts of interest.

 from Investopedia identifies and defines types of conflicts board members may experience:

Ethical issues play into budgeting, policy writing and even how each board member prioritizes the work. A typical situation might involve a board member who voted on the losing side of a hot-button issue and has to decide how to react. It is every board’s responsibility to try to build consensus, and every member’s responsibility to support the board once a decision is made. But this is easier said than done, which is why discussions about expectations and ongoing training can be invaluable.

Publicly elected boards have a lot of demands on them, and ongoing development can sometimes take a back seat to other matters. But training will pay off in increased efficiencies, understanding, collaboration and more. Your district should have a plan for 

 that spans the entire board member lifecycle. If the board expects a district that is continually improving, the board should be modeling this by seeking to continually improve as well.

“If the board expects a district that is continually improving, the board should be modeling this by seeking to continually improve as well.” – Steve Schroeder, Board Member, Sun Prairie Schools

Creating an ethical culture needs to be a sustained effort. Board makeup and board member interests change (leading to possible new conflicts of interest), and new issues arise that require careful study, such as new technologies with ethical implications. Create a regular item in the board agenda to cover ethical considerations, and look at new discussion topics through a lens of ethics and compliance.

How Diligent Community can support ethical boards

When your board or council employs Diligent Community, you gain 

Store your ethics policy centrally in the document library so that onboarding of new trustees and everboarding of existing trustees around your organization’s ethics can be done easily.

Key information and research can be brought to the board through the software to ensure that decision-making is data-driven.

Goals aligned with long-term vision can be tracked alongside agendas to show progress against the strategic plan with transparency to the community.

The public website provided with Diligent Community allows your organization to build trust and be transparent about decision-making. It creates that ‘single source of truth’ for stakeholders to see information from the board and understand the decisions the board is making. Community members can find information easily through robust search and sign up to receive updates and notifications for future meetings as well as request to speak.

LiveStream Manager makes it simple for your community to participate in meetings. Because it’s integrated with your agenda, participants can view the meeting and agenda on a split screen, easily following along with the discussion and voting.

Policy Publisher can help staff and the board to keep their current ethics policy up-to-date, published and transparent to the community.

 can take pressure off individual board members and support them in their service.

Following an ethical path takes work, but it is necessary for the board to embrace integrity, accountability and transparency and build trust with constituents. We at Diligent understand this, and we have designed 

 as a solution to support this effort and more.

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Diligent Q&A – Kicking off Cybersecurity Awareness Month with Monica Landen

Ethics in action: A quick primer for publicly elected boards

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Diligent

Blog

Diligent Q&A – Kicking off Cybersecurity Awareness Month with Monica Landen

Ethics in action: A quick primer for publicly elected boards

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ResourcesResources

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Your Data Matters

Solutions

Resources

Company