The Value of Cybersecurity
We get asked from time to time what we think of the "value of cybersecurity." How much, we're asked, is cybersecurity "worth?" What are the units of cybersecurity we measure? What should they cost? How valuable are they?
Those who follow CSC may notice tthat we don't peddle "FUD" - a.k.a. fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We don't talk about "cyber Pearl Harbor" or cyber Armageddon. We don't. It may be possible to gain the attention of people through fear; people still want value.
So, we make it clear: those who need cybersecuruty need value. The value they need is not security per se; it's the value they want to unlock in the information they use. We call it Big Data, i.e., large amounts of swiftly changing data that can be analyzed and used to help understand complex situations - and make very high-value decisions. These decisions can include those within a global product development strategy, or a military operation. With good cybersecurity and a high level of assurance regarding the integrity of the data used in a "big data" environment, we can gain maximum value from that data. So, the value of cybersecurity is related to the extent to which it allows us to unlock the value of the data we use.
Cybersecurity is also helpful as we seek to make more valuable our critical infrastructures and other distributed infrastructures in which information systems go from the "core to the edge." We want to use IP-enabled, programmable logic devices to make the use of our infrastructures and natural resources more efficient. We want our infrastructures to serve us more flexibly and effectively. Using information technology to manage these infrastuctures makes them more valuable - in the protection of our homes, the transport of energy, the delivery and use of electricity, our use of water, the efficiency of our factories. Again, we can only gain this value if our use of these systems is unimpaired by cyber threats, if these systems can't be damaged, and if the data they produce and by which they're managed retains its integrity. Again, the value of cybersecurity is related to the value it helps us unlock.
Finally, intellectual property's value can be unlocked through cybersecurity. With effective cybersecurity, we can wrest powerful returns on the investments we make in research and development, global growth strategies, and product development. Today, investment in the creation of intellectual property is a high-stakes endeavor. Many enterprises posses nothing as valuable as their intellectual property; losing that intellectual property to a competitor, or having its integrity compromised, does more than make a business difficult to run; it can make that business irrelevant. Cybersecurity gives us the confidence to use our intellectual property as it is intended to be used, particularly in global enterprises that are exposed constantly to cyber risk.
Cybersecurity is foremost about value.