Effective communication with board members is essential to ensure that directors are well-informed, involved and able to make informed decisions about the company's performance. However, boards face the task of balancing the necessity to communicate effectively while safeguarding sensitive information from cyberattacks.
Boards need to use secure collaboration tools such as boards portals and real-time communication platforms to keep discussions documents, meetings and other sensitive data private. This is a growing concern as more companies fall prey to hacks and breaches, and regulators establish new security standards.
Security experts from the field say it's not an issue of "if", but "when" an organization could suffer a data breach. A effective cybersecurity framework has a strong relationship between the board and the chief information security officer (CISO). CISOs should take advantage of every opportunity to communicate their vision and strategy to the board and gain the board's approval to provide more effective responses boardroomsolutions.org to cyberattacks.
Many board members and experts in governance depend on their personal email accounts to send out internal messages, especially during virtual meetings. This puts organizations in greater risk of phishing attacks and other cyberattacks targeting prominent individuals, like directors and C-level executives.
It is essential to train your board members about the importance of cybersecurity. This should include a thorough examination of the information they share through insecure channels, such as meeting minutes or informal communication. It is also important to use a secure document-sharing platform that offers encryption and access controls to keep documents from being downloaded or copied by unauthorized parties, such as those found in a cyberattack.