A group of like-minded cyber professionals who want to change how businesses think about threat defence and risk management have banded together to launch a new platform, the Cyber Safety Force (CSF), with the aim of moving the conversation from cyber security to cyber safety.
Spearheaded by Performanta founder Guy Golan, 2020 Partners founder Greg Sim, former BP chief information security officer (CISO) and strategic security advisor Simon Hodgkinson, and myResilience co-founder and CEO Wolfgang Selzer, the group said it has never been more imperative for such an initiative to attempt to drive meaningful change.
Golan said that currently, most organisations manage cyber security through compliance, but that this approach encouraged them to do the bare minimum in terms of actual cyber safety, putting those that rely on it in a potentially dangerous position.
“The CSF has been created to combat this misunderstanding and introduce principles to reform the way businesses think about cyber security,” he said.
“Clear demand for better protection has enabled us to combine field-leading expertise and actionable data to form a new set of best practices.
“It’s an exciting time for the CSF as we gain momentum towards sparking true change for businesses globally, ushering in a new, vastly more impactful method of managing risk and achieving cyber safety,” said Golan.
What does cyber safety mean?
Golan explained that the term cyber safe, at its core, means having the ability to continue normal business operations in an uninterrupted manner, proactively lowering risk and limiting impact if, or when, an incident occurs.
To do this, he said, security pros need to dump the theatrics and manage risk as they would any other business risk, with transparent, accurate and contextualised information essential.
This is not in and of itself a dramatically new idea – a draft code of practice published by the British government in January 2024 also urges security pros to prioritise cyber risk in a similar context to financial or legal risk.
The CSF, said Golan, is intended to move things beyond a topic of conversation to better empower organisations in this regard with clear principles that reform how they think about cyber security.
“Cyber security is too often viewed as the technical team’s problem,” added co-founder Simon Hodgkinson. “In fact, CISOs are often fired for poor cyber security while the CEO remains in their position.
“It’s time to take cyber security as seriously as physical security and adopt a cyber safety mindset,” he said. “I’m proud to be pioneering this mission with some of the very best in the business.”
New members will receive access to in-depth video content and panel discussions, expert insights and question-and-answer sessions with founding members, downloadable guides on cyber safety, regular blogs containing advice and tips, access to a social media presence on LinkedIn, and a voice in the future direction of the organisation.
The CSF said it plans to announce further information and events online throughout 2024.