Managing Cyber Risk

by Ariel Evans

Cyber risk is the second highest perceived business risk according to U.S. risk managers and corporate insurance experts. Digital assets now represent over 85% of an organization’s value. In a survey of Fortune 1000 organizations, 83% surveyed described cyber risk as an organizationally complex topic, with most using only qualitative metrics that provide little, if any insight into an effective cyber strategy. Written by one of the foremost cyber risk experts in the world and with contributions from other senior professionals in the field, Managing Cyber Risk provides corporate cyber stakeholders – managers, executives, and directors – with context and tools to accomplish several strategic objectives. These include enabling managers to understand and have proper governance oversight of this crucial area and ensuring improved cyber resilience. Managing Cyber Risk helps businesses to understand cyber risk quantification in business terms that lead risk owners to determine how much cyber insurance they should buy based on the size and the scope of policy, the cyber budget required, and how to prioritize risk remediation based on reputational, operational, legal, and financial impacts. Directors are held to standards of fiduciary duty, loyalty, and care. These insights provide the ability to demonstrate that directors have appropriately discharged their duties, which often dictates the ability to successfully rebut claims made against such individuals. Cyber is a strategic business issue that requires quantitative metrics to ensure cyber resiliency. This handbook acts as a roadmap for executives to understand how to increase cyber resiliency and is unique since it quantifies exposures at the digital asset level.

118 pages, Paperback

Published April 8, 2019

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book was a poor effort, I learned more about the author's credentials than I did the topic on which she was writing. I cannot be sure, but it seems as though she had a ghostwriter and this is more of a marketing initiative for her consulting business. Consultants love introducing themselves as authors because clients love hearing it.

I would consider this text to be intro level, so if that's your expectation going in you may not come away as disappointed as I did. Introductory was not my expectation going in based on her credentials.

But you know what bothered me most about this book? There are three ratings on goodreads, two of them with written reviews, as I write this. One rating is from the author herself, and the two written reviews are from accounts which have only a single review to their credit. Do not be fooled by the aggregate rating, the author has disingenuously primed the rating in her favor. This is not a great book on cyber risk management.

I would recommend Hubbard and Seiersen's book How to Measure Anything in Cybersecurity and Cybersecurity Program Development for Business by Chris Moschovitis as better reads.

[Jonelle T · Rating 5 out of 5]

The key to managing cyber risk - the image on the front cover says it all! Any company looking to build or transform their cyber risk management practices should read this book.

Ariel's book provides a guide and empowers entities to rethink the way they view and analyze cybersecurity. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations are faced with evaluating and quantifying their exposures from a business perspective.

The ability to analyze critical assets and data, identify best practices and budgeting methodologies for resiliency, quantify the impact of a variety of potential cyber events, paired with an overview of cyber insurance protection rounds out the discussion with the board and c-suite.

The information presented provides a guide for conducting analysis and implementing strategies to build an effective cyber risk management program.

[Julie Rothwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential (digestible) read! I didn’t know how much I didn’t know about the world of cybersecurity and cyber risk management until I read this book. Ariel Evans is able to make a complex subject understandable. Recommend for cybersecurity novices and experts alike.

[Juan Jaramillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has interesting and relevating information, I think it's main subject will be cyberresiliency, which has to become one of the most important needs in all organizations with cyber risk related risks.