When investing in business, we expect a good return on that investment, right? Investing in cybersecurity is just the same. According to StationX, approximately 2,370 incidents occur each month, and 9,478 were publicly disclosed in 2024 alone.
With the types of cyberattacks happening today, it is essential to ensure that the money you spend on cybersecurity has a solid payoff. It should bring you protection, efficiency, and long-term value.
One common problem businesses face is getting stuck investing heavily in the latest security technology, thinking that their investments will yield good returns. However, this approach can sometimes fail. Investment in security operations should always be strategic, with a well-thought-out approach behind it.
So now the question arises: how do you maximize ROI from cybersecurity investments? Let’s answer your query in this blog! Read on.
Quantifying Cyber Security ROI
Firstly, let’s look at determining the ROI of cybersecurity before we go into maximizing your cybersecurity investment. It can be done by comparing the potential costs of breaches with the costs of preventing them.
A common formula for calculating cybersecurity ROI is as follows:
Cybersecurity ROI = (Benefits – Costs) / Costs x 100%
- Benefits: The total value of implementing cybersecurity measures. For example, the money saved from avoiding breaches, reducing risks, and gaining financial gains from better security are all included in this category.
- Costs: The total expenses to implement cybersecurity. For example, resources such as software controls, hardware, training, and others are included in this category.
Costs of Security Breaches
A data breach costs an average of $4.45 million globally, according to IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report. The healthcare sector experiences the highest breaches, costing an average of $10.93 million. Data breaches in the financial industry cost an average of $5.9 million in 2023.
Data breach costs are high across every industry, so your company or anyone else can’t afford millions in losses. Furthermore, you need to pay for some hardware and software too; we have highlighted a few elements that you need to decide on and their prices.
- Firewalls: If you’re looking at firewall security, the price for hardware for a small business can go from $700 to $1,000. For businesses with 15 to 100 users, firewall hardware can cost between $5,000 and $15,000.
- EDR: EDR, or Endpoint Detection and Response, is a cybersecurity technology designed to detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats on endpoints in real-time. EDR solutions typically cost around $8 to $16 per user each month.
- DLP: DLP (Data Loss Prevention) is a security strategy to prevent unauthorized users from losing, misusing, or accessing sensitive data. DLP software can cost from $5 to $50 per user, depending on the number of users and the contract terms.
How much can you save by implementing a security control? Let’s say you start with the implementation of the incident response plan. According to the stats, this one implementation, on average, can make you save $2.66 million per breach.
Additionally, companies utilizing AI and automation in cybersecurity save an average of $3.58 million per breach compared to those not using these technologies. These measures significantly reduce financial losses, making them crucial investments for robust cybersecurity strategies.
5 Steps to Maximize Your Cyber Security Investment
1. Clear Actionable Plan
To make smart investments in cybersecurity, it’s important to have a clear plan. Without one, your investments might not match your expectations, leaving you unprotected. Think about what you want to achieve—like better network visibility or faster incident response—to ensure your investments pay off.
A solid cybersecurity plan is key to defending against attacks and reducing risks in IT environments. To run successful security programs and improve cyber risk management, you should have a plan that includes your people, processes, and technologies
For instance, if you want to boost incident response times, your plan could include investing in advanced threat detection systems. You could also set up a dedicated incident response team to quickly tackle potential threats.
What should you include in your cybersecurity plan?
There are several key steps to creating an effective cybersecurity plan:
- Assessment: Identify critical assets and data, determine access needs, and assess vulnerabilities.
- Technical Fixes: Address existing vulnerabilities like malware, outdated software, and unsecured devices.
- Technical Defenses: Implement antivirus software, strong firewalls, encryption for data transmission, regular backups, and updates for software and hardware.
- Human Defenses: Educate employees on phishing awareness, safe public Wi-Fi (preferably with a VPN), social media caution, and remote desktop access protocols.
- Security Automation: Implement automated security solutions to streamline monitoring, incident response, and updating. Make use of automated tools for detecting threats, analyzing them, and responding to them.
2. Assessing Risk Level
Next, assess your current risk level. Assessing risk helps prioritize cybersecurity investments by pinpointing the most critical vulnerabilities. As a result, resources can be allocated effectively to address potential threats.
The cybersecurity risk of your organization is the possibility of being exposed to cyberattacks or data breaches. In addition, cybersecurity risk assessments evaluate your organization’s IT systems and data, as well as your ability to protect those assets.
According to the CIS and NIST frameworks, risks can be classified as high, medium, or low based on their criticality.
A thorough risk assessment involves several key steps:
Step 1: Determine the Scope
First, pick which part of the organization you want to assess—maybe a specific business unit or process. Get the stakeholders involved to gather support and insights from key people. Also, take some time to review important concepts and standards like ISO/IEC 27001 and NIST SP 800-37 to make sure you’re following best practices.
Step 2: Identify Cybersecurity Risks
Next, take stock of all the physical and logical assets within your defined scope. To identify potential threats, check out resources like the Mitre ATT&CK library and other industry tools. Look for vulnerabilities by examining each asset for any weaknesses that might be exploited.
Step 3: Analyze Risks
Take a look at how likely each risk scenario is to happen, using historical data and expert opinions to estimate the probability. Then, rate the potential impact of each risk on a scale from 1 (Negligible) to 5 (Very Severe) to get a sense of the possible harm to the organization.
Step 4: Prioritize and Address Risks
Classify each risk scenario by how likely it is to happen and its impact using a risk matrix. Then, figure out the best way to handle it: avoid high-risk activities, transfer the risk by outsourcing or getting insurance, mitigate the risk with controls, or accept any leftover risk after treatment.
Step 5: Document and Review
Keep a risk register to track all identified risks, controls, treatment plans, and who owns them. Make sure to review and update it regularly to stay on top of changes in the risk landscape and see how well the controls are working.
3. Engaging Top Management
To maximize cybersecurity investments, senior management’s involvement is crucial. Rather than viewing cybersecurity as a separate function, they should see it as a key player in hitting various business goals.
When senior leaders prioritize cybersecurity, company-wide support and resources are secured. Their involvement sends a strong message, showing that cybersecurity is essential to the company’s success. The top-down approach ensures everyone understands its importance and commits to implementing it.
Senior management should align security efforts with company objectives. By showing how cybersecurity initiatives contribute to the bigger picture, they can gain support from all departments. It protects assets, ensures regulatory compliance, and builds trust among stakeholders and customers.
4. Setting Realistic and Achievable Metrics
When figuring out cybersecurity metrics, it’s crucial to set realistic and achievable benchmarks. These metrics should clearly and objectively show how well your cybersecurity investments are doing.
Start by picking key performance indicators (KPIs) that match your business goals, like reducing the number of security incidents, speeding up the detection and response to threats, or meeting regulatory requirements. Having a baseline helps you track progress over time. Set targets that are doable and make sure everyone understands and agrees with these metrics.
To better evaluate impacts and make smarter decisions down the road, give yourself a reasonable timeframe, like six months, to see how effective your measures are.
Here are some of the key cybersecurity metrics and best practices to track and assess performance:
- Level of Preparedness: Ensure your business has a strategy to prevent, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents. This should be a collaborative effort led by the IT and cybersecurity teams.
- Mean Time to Detect (MTTD): Measure the average time taken to detect a cyber threat. Faster detection leads to quicker containment and less damage.
- Mean Time to Respond (MTTR): Measure the average time taken to respond to a threat. Rapid response minimizes damage and reduces costs.
- Mean Time to Contain (MTTC): Measure the average time taken to contain a threat. Quick containment shuts down attack vectors and prevents further damage.
- Security Incidents: Monitor for events that disrupt normal operations and indicate potential data or system compromises. Continuous monitoring prepares teams for various eventualities.
- Phishing Attacks: Educate staff on indicators of phishing attempts and ensure the organization is prepared to detect and thwart these sophisticated attacks.
5. Challenging Vendors Before Purchases
Before you buy cybersecurity products, vet the vendors. Your investment will be more effective if you ensure the solutions you’re investing in meet your needs and provide real benefits.
Start by clearly outlining what you need from your cybersecurity. Have detailed chats with vendors about how their products or services can address your challenges. Ask for concrete proof of their claims, like case studies, performance data, or references from other clients. Check their track record by researching their reputation and looking for third-party validation.
Trusted firms like Forrester or Gartner can offer independent reviews of different solutions’ effectiveness. Also, make sure to ask how the vendor will help you measure the impact of their solutions on your organization’s security. Transparency and accountability will help you make informed decisions and ensure your cybersecurity investments are worthwhile.
Key questions to ask include:
- Do they maintain a formal security policy that undergoes regular review and updates?
- What technical controls do they employ, such as firewalls, intrusion detection, encryption, and multi-factor authentication?
- Are there established procedures for incident response, disaster recovery, and business continuity?
- Have they obtained recognized security certifications like ISO 27001 or completed a SOC 2 audit report?
- How do they screen employees and restrict access to sensitive data?
- Do they provide security awareness training?
Measuring Success with KPIs
To fully utilize the budget allocated to cybersecurity, you need to understand its performance. As a business, you can track various measures to assess the performance of your investments.
Some of the elements include:
- Incident Response Time: Measure how quickly your team can respond to and mitigate a cyber incident. Faster response times can minimize damage and reduce recovery costs.
- Number of Detected Threats: Track the number of threats detected and blocked by your security systems. A higher number of detected threats indicates that your defenses effectively identify and stop attacks.
- Employee Compliance Rates: Monitor employee compliance with security policies and procedures. High compliance rates suggest that your training and awareness programs are effective.
- Percentage of Systems with Up-to-Date Patches: Regularly updating your software and systems with the latest patches is critical in addressing security vulnerabilities. This KPI measures the proportion of up-to-date systems, underscoring the importance of proactive maintenance in ensuring system security.
The best way to get the most out of your cybersecurity investments is to have a smart strategy. Plan clearly, assess risks, get everyone on board, use realistic metrics, and carefully evaluate vendors. Setting measurable KPIs can help you make the best use of your resources while protecting against threats. Keep an eye on your performance metrics and adapt as necessary.
This way, you’ll keep improving and stay resilient against ever-changing cybersecurity challenges, keeping your assets and operations safe from potential breaches and disruptions.
Author: Muhammad Omar Khan (LinkedIn)
Job Title: Co-Founder at SIRP
Company: SIRP (https://www.sirp.io/)