Cybercrime costs $2,900,000 each minute, and top corporations pay $25 per minute for cybersecurity breaches. 

If cybercrime were a country, it would be ranked the third-largest economy in the world — after the USA and China — with an expected total economic loss of $6 trillion USD globally by the end of 2021. 

To combat these attacks, companies are forming cybersecurity partnerships, collecting information about cyberattacks regarding potential vulnerabilities or suspicious activity, and sharing it amongst themselves.

The creation of these partnerships has become so common that tech giants like Microsoft, HP, Cisco, Airbus, and more have banded together. There has also been an ongoing dialogue regarding the benefit of cybersecurity partnerships, with the chief information security officers (CISOs) of the partner companies at the forefront of the conversations. 

Building a secure partnership

A strategic relationship between CISOs and cybersecurity is critical. It enables organizations to prevent, respond to, and recover from incidents, thus dodging serious and costly business disruptions. 

Here are five things CISOs should focus on when it comes to securing the much-anticipated cybersecurity partnership. 

1. Cybersecurity should be a boardroom agenda: The boardroom isn’t typically the first place that comes to mind when we think of cybersecurity. But, as it becomes more involved in cybersecurity, challenges begin to emerge, and strategies become more efficient. 

The CISO should communicate and educate about the importance of having a cybersecurity program to their peers and stakeholders across all business units. After all, they serve as an essential medium to drive strategic initiatives.

2. Invest in establishing a solid cloud security architecture: Most cloud service providers include storage, security, compliance, trust, and data protection services bundled with the cost of the cloud hosting platform.

However, because most events occur due to a lack of a proper security plan in the company, organizations need to have a robust strategy for risk management framework, safe cloud architecture, security governance, and skills expertise in the cloud.

3. Construct a borderless security system: Every day, teams are working remotely and more often than ever from locations around the globe. Public clouds, untrusted devices, and unsupported networks make the job harder for IT to secure their sensitive data.

So, in times when an entire business can be run from a kitchen table or a living room sofa, borderless security or remote monitoring is the best way to ensure the safety of your internet infrastructure. A CISO must leverage it as part of its cybersecurity partnership.  

4. Upgrade your enterprise security architecture: With the changing dynamics of security and the shift to the cloud, enterprises no longer have the opportunity to remain idle. As CISOs prepare for the future, they embrace cloud-enabled solutions that will safely integrate into their enterprise environments.

As a result, the security team is reinventing itself to support modern cloud solutions while providing automated and continuous compliance.

5. Invest in innovations: Cyberattacks have evolved and are now more sophisticated. Threats include advanced technology like denial of service, malware, phishing, cryptojacking, and zero-day vulnerability exploits.

CISOs must invest in emerging cybersecurity technologies to stay one step ahead of the cybercriminals. These solutions include AI and deep learning, user behavior analytics, blockchain, next-generation breach detection, and zero-trust networking.

The need for partnership with internal and external security providers

The security industry is in its early years of maturity. CISOs can either choose to be a part of this maturation or ignore it. Security as a service is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s now essential. 

The dramatic rise in cyberattacks means that security professionals like a CISO must go beyond traditional perimeter defenses to protect today’s businesses.

There are also other needs.

1. Societal norms

The protection of data is becoming harder for companies to carry out, given the influence of democracy. The more democratic a society is, the more open and interactive it is while also being accessible. Therefore, protecting critical infrastructure, in this case, becomes challenging. 

2. Unique frameworks

When it comes to cybersecurity, a company must consider the critical infrastructure, operational technology, and IT systems. All of these have unique frameworks and vulnerable points. The presence of these frameworks means that a company cannot implement a single kind of security system, but will require unique security frameworks. Therefore, companies participate in partnerships to fortify weak points. 

These partnerships between companies are usually of two types. One is the operational alliances like Cyber Threat Alliance, Global Cyber Alliance, and more, while the other type is known as normative alliances. The cybersecurity CISO is more influential in the case of operational alliances. This is because IT teams under the guidance of the CISOs will gather information about cybersecurity threats. 

Another typical example of operational alliances includes the Cybersecurity Tech Accord in which Microsoft is a pioneer, along with other tech companies. This group intends on creating a safer world online by fostering collaboration between multinational companies. 

Cybersecurity CISOs will continue to be a relevant component of a company. By creating partnerships, a CISO can coordinate and manage the company’s efforts as it fights against cyber threats.