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I’m so excited to finally announce that “Rational Cybersecurity for Business: The Security Leaders’ Guide to Business Alignment” is live.
You can now buy a paperback, or get a complimentary digital download here.
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Why I Wrote the Book
I chose to write Rational Cybersecurity for Business because, during my career as an IT research analyst and consultant, I’ve learned that successful cybersecurity isn’t just about the technology, it’s also about the people and organizations. And security leaders need a book with comprehensive advice specifically focused on how to align with the business.
I decided to open source the book’s digital editions because cybersecurity-business alignment is such an important topic. We need to create an open information flow. Each Chapter ends with a Call to Action referencing a Success Plan Worksheet. The Worksheet extends the book to provide a way for readers to actively apply the recommendations.
An Acknowledgement
I want to acknowledge all my colleagues and others whose support, encouragement, and insight made this work possible. To more than 60 CISOs, Board members, and other security or business leaders interviewed: Thank you for the knowledge you’ve shared. Your stories and suggestions enrich the work immeasurably. Also – for everyone who’s been sharing or commenting on my posts now and then – I’m grateful for that too.
Relevance to Current Situation
As of early 2020, the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic forced most businesses to send their staff home and/or shut down in-person operations such as malls, movie theaters, manufacturing plants, and offices. A great many of the business processes that continue operating do so only through online processes and telecommuting. It is as if COVID-19 pressed the gas pedal on the digital transformation.
Digital transformation demands more cybersecurity, not just because it means “more IT” but also “riskier IT.” Newer technologies – such as mobile devices, social networks, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IOT) – are all seeing accelerated adoption. These technologies are being driven by business innovation functions using cloud technologies. Aligning security to business leaders and business processes is exponentially more important now.
What You’ll Get
I’ve made Rational Cybersecurity as detailed and specific as possible because all too often, we get only platitudes or generalizations about business alignment. In addition to providing a Success Plan Worksheet tool, the book’s organized based on a Cybersecurity Pareto Principle (the 80-20 rule). These are the priorities: security governance and culture, risk management, control baseline, IT security simplification, access control, and cyber-resilience. The advice is scaled for businesses of different types and sizes.
Please Pass the Word
Rational Cybersecurity is available today on the publisher’s site and you can also pre-order it on Amazon. I really appreciate shares of this post and other updates about this to your network (as well as positive reviews on Amazon :-).
Enjoy the read, and here’s hoping you find lots of useful ideas and action items for your organization’s security program.
Continuing the Journey
Having finished the book, I like to say: “This isn’t the end, it is the beginning of an open information flow.” For now, you can follow updates and additions to Rational Cybersecurity’s content in my 50 Keys to Alignment blog series.