The Conference Board of Canada, an organization focused on building leadership capacity for a better Canada by sharing insight on economic trends, public policy and organizational performance, organize the conference annually. This year the conference was about building cyber security resilience now and for the future.
During the day and a half of conference, participants had the chance to learn a lot and get insights from experts on the different aspect of building a cyber security strategy and how it could or has affected your company.
The key points of discussion from speakers were about:
- The best practice there is to know about what to do before a breach
- What to do when a breach happens
- What the future holds for companies who have been breached
Our CTO, Nadim Baklouti, was there as a speaker to emphasize that security begins with effective leadership. When developing a cyber security strategy for your organization two issues need to be on top of mind. First, who owns and leads security, and secondly, whose input and expertise do you need to create effective security and sustainable resilience in the long term.
Many organizations focus on “what” to secure and forget about the “how”. In his session, Baklouti focused on the complexity of securing the most sensitive and critical part of any organization: the board. What happens when organizations need to secure the boardroom? Is it even possible for the IT guy to secure the C-level? How can organizations make the chairman of the Board comply with any security procedure?
One of the things that attendees heard the most is to make sure to educate as many people as possible within the company. That way most employees are aware and can be on the lookout for any suspicious emails or links and immediately alert the IT department so that action can be taken before a real and threatening breach happens.
Enterprises need to be aware that third parties and supply chains make them vulnerable. The speakers put a lot of emphasis on this point, no company is 100 % immune from breaches, so you might as well be prepared when/ if the storm hits. Have a plan of action, be prepared and exercise, try to think outside the box and think of the most surreal situations. It’s important to have a communication plan ready to make sure you don’t overreact or underreact when the event occurs. It’s vital to communicate the right information with the right timing as this is key to good crisis management. All in all, this conference shed a light on how important it is to be aware of these threats, know they are real and make sure that you are prepared and ready to face them when they do arrive.
On behalf of the DiliTrust team, we wish to thank the Conference Board of Canada for the quality and the excellent organization of this event. It was an honor for DiliTrust to be a part of this event as a sponsor, highlighting with participants as to why cyber security matters. We would also like to thank all participants and sponsors for their presence and their contribution to the success of this Cyber Security Conference.
