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Posted June 18, 2019
Office chairs, software, new employees, the company picnic – you name it, your organization has probably budgeted for it. Sometimes, however, critical initiatives aren’t included or only added in as an afterthought. Unfortunately, this is all too often what happens to the cybersecurity budget at some organizations.
The 2018 Study on Global Megatrends in Cybersecurity survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute found that less than half of IT security professionals are confident in their ability to protect their organizations from cyberthreats.
Additionally, in a survey of IT generalists conducted by 451 Research last year, 16% of respondents indicated that information security was the area that would be getting the largest budget increase. Cybersecurity budget came second to off-premise cloud services in terms of increased spend. Despite these digitization plans, 60% of respondents said that they had no formal digital transformation strategy in place and will face challenges aligning their IT initiatives with business goals. (Aligning your cybersecurity program with business goals can be a growth enabler for organizations.)
IT and Information Security professionals understand the importance of security and know that these initiatives can impact the overall health of the organization. And yet this isn’t always reflected in the cybersecurity budget.
Two stats from the 2018 Study on Global Megatrends in Cybersecurity might help us understand this a bit better.
The threat landscape continues to evolve and breaches are increasing in both scale and sophistication. Are you communicating this to the stakeholders in your organization? Until decision makers are educated on how cybersecurity can impact the bottom line, the needle won’t move on the cybersecurity budget. A comprehensive budget will allow you to address common business concerns, such as vendor security questionnaires, winning business contracts, simplifying compliance, and minimizing the impact of security incidents, among others.
The number that works for their organization may not work for yours. After all, how do you know they are spending wisely? An astronomical budget doesn’t always equate to a strong security posture. Your cybersecurity budget should be unique to your business and based on what you require to be secure. It’s not about what it costs to build your program; it’s about how effective your cybersecurity program is at defending your business.
Do not just focus on the technology piece – instead, you need to be looking at the organization from a holistic perspective. This will help you demonstrate to leadership that you are considering the budget and your program thoughtfully. Being able to showcase that you are being proactive and fiscally responsible within your cybersecurity spend will build confidence inside the board of directors. Performing a risk assessment and using the resulting corrective action plan will give you the data you need to identify your top challenges that need to be worked through to put you in a strong place from a cybersecurity perspective.
When you know your top challenges and can assess your program accurately, you can approach your cybersecurity budget from a value perspective. What value are you getting for the money you spend? How does it relate to business goals and objectives? What you are able to accomplish with your resources is more important than what you are spending.
In many organizations, cybersecurity has a negative connotation. You are the “bad guy” that introduces policies that people feel restricted by. This is why the entire organization needs to be involved in your budget process. If you can help your organization to understand cybersecurity as a whole, you will start to build a coalition inside of the company that will help you achieve your goals.
By “socializing” your program, you can make policies more palatable and manageable to relevant parties. Education is key and when you empower people through knowledge, you may see spend coming from departments or areas you weren’t expecting. For example, you may be interested in putting an awareness initiative in place but lack the funding to do so effectively. If you educate your human resources department on the human element of cybersecurity, they will learn that it is a people issue, not a technology issue, and may partner with you to secure the necessary budget.
Socialization can also help you build a cybersecurity coalition: an inter-departmental group that can help to build a culture of security throughout the organization as well as identify other areas where spend may come from rather than just the IT budget.
You have the internal data, you have performed an assessment to understand it, and built a budget based on your findings. Don’t let a third party or outside organization dictate your budget to you. The budget is yours – ensure that you own it.
As the digital transformation continues in the business world, you will see two things grow within organizations: the role of Information Security professionals and the budgets that they manage. The important thing to remember is that a higher number doesn’t necessarily translate to better security; it’s about how you use the money you have.
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Ho Chin is Chief Financial Officer at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Ho leads Finance, HR, IT and Professional Development. As part of the executive leadership team, Ho works to establish the company’s overall strategy and ensure proper execution of the supporting initiatives pertaining to the above areas of responsibility.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Ho led finance and administrative functions at multiple private equity and venture-backed portfolio companies across multiple industries. Ho holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University in Centre County, Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dan Kalil is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chairman at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Dan provides vision, leadership and strategies that drive GreyCastle Security’s position as an industry leader. With an emphasis on customer success, Dan’s profitable growth model leverages a customer-centric business approach that balances employee wellbeing and social responsibility.
Prior to becoming CEO, Dan served as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, during which he supported multiple acquisitions and helped the organization achieve substantial sales growth. In addition to serving as CEO at GreyCastle Security, Dan continues to hold the position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Assured information Security (AIS) in Rome, New York, a company he co-founded in 2001.
Over the course of the last 22 years, Dan has been committed to advancing the state of cybersecurity and has played an instrumental role in the identification and development of critical, next-generation cyber capabilities. He has held positions in almost every facet of cybersecurity, beginning as a computer forensic examiner and progressing through the management and executive leadership ranks. In addition to co-founding AIS, Dan has facilitated multiple cybersecurity startups, raised investment capital and has served in various lead and support roles toward the acquisition of five companies in the last eight years.
Dan has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity and a master’s degree in Cybersecurity from Utica College in Utica, New York.
Michael Stamas is an entrepreneur, board member, Vice President and a founder of GreyCastle Security. With more than two decades of experience in the technology sector, Mike pairs his management and business development skills with a deep understanding of cybersecurity. Mike brings a unique brand of risk-based advising to GreyCastle clients and prospects.
Mike holds certifications in numerous security and technology related areas, including the Department of Homeland Security and other security technologies like Symantec, Cisco and Microsoft.
Mike plays an active role in his community and serves as a board member and Vice President of InfraGard Albany as well as an advisory board position with the Capital Region YMCA.
Mike has been recognized for his numerous achievements through various honors including the Albany Business Review’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award.
Dan Maynard serves as GreyCastle Security’s Chief Operating Officer, where he currently leads Sales, Marketing and Legal.
Dan has enjoyed a 30+ year career in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, during which time he has held various leadership positions for organizations such as Rochester Tel/RCI, Citizens Communications (Frontier), PAETEC Communications, IntegraOptics, tw telecom/Level3 and Centurylink.
In addition to various voice and data technology platforms, he possesses a strong background in leadership development, sales and marketing leadership, transformational leadership and strategic planning. Dan has a thirst for knowledge and as a committed lifelong learner, he encourages and supports professional development initiatives for his teams and continues his involvement with Vistage International.
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he was selected as a member of their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
When not at work, Dan enjoys traveling, golfing, attending Utica Comets hockey games and relaxing in the Adirondacks on beautiful Canada Lake with family and friends.
Dan Didier is the Vice President of Solutions and board member at GreyCastle Security.
Dan has been a cybersecurity practitioner for more than 20 years and uses his knowledge and experience to develop cybersecurity solutions that ensure readiness and preparedness.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a master’s degree in Information Assurance from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.
Our Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) have responded to hundreds of breaches, intrusions, malware infections, thefts, employee investigations, fraud cases and other incidents. Our highly-certified experts have extensive experience in command, coordination and correction of incidents in nearly every industry throughout North America, from local businesses to Fortune 500 international conglomerates.
800-403-8350Francesca LoPorto-Brandow is Director of Culture at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Francesca leads all social responsibility efforts and partnerships and develops effective strategies that promote organizational-wide behaviors and attitudes consistent with a culture of safety, inclusion, teamwork, motivation and high-performance.
Prior to this role, Francesca was Director of People & Culture at GreyCastle and with her leadership, the company’s culture has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Nationally recognized Best Workplace, Albany Business Review Best Places to Work and Albany Times Union Top Workplaces.
Before joining GreyCastle Security, Francesca worked as an OD consultant and focused on strategic culture change at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. for more than six years. There, she facilitated client education sessions, coached leaders and teams, developed and executed consulting interventions and served as strategy project leader on various client engagements. Her work has taken her into Fortune 100 companies and across borders including Panama, Singapore and beyond.
Francesca is a Lean Six Sigma–certified Green Belt, a proud YWCA-GCR board member and in 2013, she coordinated and emceed the inaugural TEDx Troy—a livestream of TEDCity 2.0. Since 2012, she has coordinated and emceed the Troy 100 Forum, a biannual forum for government, religious and community leaders to discuss issues vital to the future of Troy, New York.
Bilingual in English and Italian, Francesca holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Technology from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology. She was awarded Cybersecurity Recruiter of the year North America in 2017 by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.
Jamie Aiello is Senior Vice President of Services and Product Management at GreyCastle Security. In this position, Jamie is responsible for leading a high performing and well-balanced team that is ultimately responsible for the identification, selection, execution and successful performance of our company’s diverse portfolio of cybersecurity offerings.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Jamie has held leadership positions with Annese and Associates, ConvergeOne and BlueSky IT Partners with a focus on delivering cost effective information technology solutions for companies across multiple verticals.
Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona.
