10
MiMfg Magazine
Premium
Associate
Member
February 2020
Why the CEO Must Embrace
a Cyber Security Mindset
By Mike Maddox • ASK
Cyber security is a technology thing — right?
False. While much of cyber security is centered
around the use and protection of technology, it most
certainly doesn’t fall into the responsibility of the
technology department. Leading up to 2020, there
has been a big misconception that cyber security
should be an area for the IT department to handle.
When a company experiences a cyber-attack, the
entire business, and its future, is instantly at risk.
Every department, every customer and every line of
business is at risk. Business owners need to stop
thinking of cyber security as an IT responsibility and
start looking at it as a way to protect their business
assets. Given the growth in cyber threats and their
potential to destroy a business, it is crucial that
CEOs embrace a cyber security mindset.
Growing a manufacturing company takes long hours,
hard work and dedication. Many manufacturing
companies in Michigan have been in business for
generations. If you’re not protected, all you’ve worked
so hard for could be gone in an instant. That is the
threat of simply clicking on the wrong link or
opening a malicious e-mail attachment.
Think about that for a minute. If your company
does not have cyber security protection or a plan in
place, you are at risk for data leaks, malware, phishing
attacks via e-mail, and worse yet, ransomware. You
might think “but what if I pay for cyber security
protection and don’t really need it?” Why run that
risk? You wouldn’t run your business without
insurance, would you? Then why would you run
your business without cyber security protection?
Cyber security goes much deeper than having a
firewall and anti-virus protection in place. While
these basic security measures are important, they are
no longer sufficient for today’s threat landscape. Cyber
criminals don’t care what you do or how long you’ve
been doing it. Their methods for attacking companies
like yours are malicious, designed to confuse
individuals, and can easily overcome traditional IT
security practices (firewalls and anti-virus).
Your internal IT team already has an enormous
amount of responsibility. They are also not trained
in advanced cyber security. An effective cyber
security program requires 24/7 monitoring and a
deeper level of knowledge, planning and expertise
for it to be done correctly.
Additionally, because cyber security can impact
the entire company, planning for cyber security should
be done by top executives. If your employees see that
the CEO embraces and supports cyber security, then
they will too. Far too often, technology teams will
implement new standards and technologies and the
employees drag their feet to embrace it. Cyber security
is a mindset that requires attention from CEOs and
the leadership of senior executives.
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Mike Maddox is the president of ASK. He may be
reached at 517-676-6633 or [email protected].
ASK is an MMA Premium Member company and
has been an MMA member since June 2016.
Visit online: justask.net.
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