Achieving strategic alignment between leadership and security: A KPI-driven approach to cyber resilience

The involvement of leadership can make or break your cybersecurity strategy. When leaders participate in security and understand its critical role in the business as a whole, they bring focus, accountability, and support, which elevates an organization's defenses from 'good enough' to resilient. On the other hand, without it, organizations not only face a greater risk of exposure to a cyber attack, they’ll also struggle to meet rising regulatory requirements where leaders can now be held accountable for incidents. 

The stakes are high, but when leadership and IT/security teams work hand-in-hand, they build a proactive and unified approach to security that doesn’t just reduce risk but also sets a foundation for long-term resilience. This collaboration turns cybersecurity into a shared responsibility that’s engrained into company culture, aligning everyone from the boardroom to the front lines to stay ahead of emerging threats.

The security skills gap: Why leadership involvement matters

Many times, leadership teams and board members lack insight into their organization's security posture or a full understanding of what cybersecurity resilience really means—and it's often through no fault of their own. The security skills gap across the workforce is well-known, and leaders, who are deeply engaged in the day-to-day demands of running the business, may find themselves distanced from the technical intricacies of cybersecurity. They’re experts in driving growth, setting strategic goals, and managing financial health, but security often requires specialized knowledge that doesn’t come naturally to those outside the field, resulting in shifting the responsibility onto technical teams.

In order for this shift to be successful, however, leadership needs to be actively involved in security – from understanding various points of attack to taking ownership of their security risk score through clear goal-setting and benchmarking. When leaders have a better understanding of what’s at stake and what’s involved in running a secure organization and can easily check in on  the security health of their organization, they can make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, and play a proactive role in building a security-aware culture across the organization.

The growing pressure of regulatory requirements

Bridging this knowledge gap is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’, it’s required. With the rise of cybersecurity frameworks and regulations such as NIS2 and DORA, leadership and board members could be personally held accountable for security breaches. This highlights the importance for security to be included in business-wide strategies and for leadership to understand it. 

The time for shifting cybersecurity responsibility onto those who don’t have a seat at the management table is over and the security health of an organization needs to be one of the KPIs tracked and reported on by the management team. 

“The business” is not security’s customer

In order to successfully unify security and business objectives there needs to be a shift in mindset in terms of how the business perceives the security and IT functions. The business is not security’s customer. The customer is the customer. But in many organizations there’s a disconnect between security and the executive level. This stems from the mindset that IT and security view the company as their customer, while business leaders often view them as a supporting function. This attitude often creates barriers leading to missed opportunities for collaboration, alignment, and improved security. 

"60% of CTOs believe that technology is not aligned with the business objectives in their organisation" – Deazy

(source: https://startupsmagazine.co.uk/article-uk-ctos-believe-technology-not-aligned-business-objectives) 

Cybersecurity is part of the customer experience

Instead, security and IT should view their work as essential to customer satisfaction. By focusing on security that protects customer data without complicating their experience, security plays a key role in keeping customers happy and loyal. Supporting the business is important, but it’s ultimately about safeguarding and enhancing the customer’s experience with your company and products. At the end of the day, the customer is always the end recipient of the work that IT and security does. Every project, process, and preventative measure ultimately impacts them, which in turn affects brand reputation, trust, and business success. 

How well your organization protects your digital assets, including sensitive customer data, directly affects their experience and can make or break their trust in your company and solution. 

As soon as security and IT teams stop viewing “the business” as their customer and vis-versa, they help build trust and loyalty, both of which are essential for long-term success.

Security should be part of your business KPIs

In order to achieve alignment, business leaders need to clearly understand what IT and security teams do and how their work contributes to the bottom line. This means that IT should have a presence at the executive level so that they can align their initiatives with the overall growth of the business and, on the flip side, ensure that security is considered in setting those goals. It also means that IT and security need to be able to clearly communicate how their work plays a part in company-wide goals and KPIs. 

This way, the whole organization works toward providing a secure, seamless experience that builds trust.

Steps to strategic alignment

To communicate effectively, it’s important to lead the conversation with the right topics that will drive real success. Here are a few actionable steps you can take to ensure everyone understands the importance of cybersecurity and are on the same page:

Understand your digital landscape 

Conduct a thorough assessment by mapping out your digital assets in a dynamic external attack management tool like Aftra, including employee email, customer-facing apps, databases and cloud resources.

Identify potential risks and areas for improvement

By thoroughly understanding your digital assets, you can identify potential risks to your organization and customers and communicate those to the top level.

You’ll also be able to identify and govern retired platforms, orphaned resources and over-permissioned services to mitigate potential security risks.

Explore external attack surface management (EASM)

Investigate EASM security solutions to gain focused visibility into your organization’s external-facing digital footprint.

What is EASM?
EASM allows you to see what a hacker sees and understand how they might exploit your assets by strategically identifying, assessing, and managing your organization’s digital presence.

Benchmark against best practices 

Evaluate your security measures against industry benchmarks and best practices to identify your security score, areas for improvement, and set organizational-wide goals. 

Implement automated policy checks

Introduce automated policy checks for gaps in cloud configurations, network settings and web assets to ensure compliance.

Assess and prioritize improvements 

Use EASM software to assess configurations related to cloud infrastructure, network settings and web assets, prioritizing fixes based on potential business impact.

Continuous threat monitoring 

Establish continuous monitoring for emerging threats, including ransomware, phishing, credential compromise and advanced persistent threats (APTs).

Activate incident response plans 

Codify incident response plans for common threats like ransomware or credential theft, conduct simulations and centralize dashboards for unified tasks.

Quantify risk reduction 

Keep an eye on your security score by measuring and communicating the progress of your cybersecurity program. Quantify risk reduction over time to justify ongoing investments.

Aftra recognizes the pivotal role of leadership and provides the necessary insights and information to help organizations understand their cybersecurity landscape and meet the leadership requirements of NIS2. By empowering executive teams with this knowledge, Aftra enables leaders to foster a culture of cybersecurity awareness and accountability.

Building a security-driven culture

With the successful alignment of leadership and security, a culture of security follows. When employees see that leadership prioritizes security, they’re more likely to adopt best practices in their own roles. This cultural shift can transform security from a specialized function into a core component of every team’s responsibilities, enhancing the organization’s resilience from within.

Strategic alignment between leadership and security strengthens an organization’s ability to anticipate, withstand, and recover from security threats. When leaders understand and prioritize security as an integral part of the business, they’re not just safeguarding assets—they’re setting up the entire organization for long-term success.

Interested in learning more about how External Attack Surface Management can empower leadership to prioritize security?

Learn more about strengthening your defenses with automated scanning, monitoring, and vulnerability detection complete with a dashboard of insights and opportunities– designed for executives.

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