Crafting a 2026 cyber security strategy that gets you a seat at exco

Secure a strategic position for cyber security.

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As we look towards 2026, security must cease being a cost centre, a tick-box exercise or a compliance excuse. The main question is not: “How secure are we?” but rather: “How well does security drive our business forward?” Aligning the three strategies of business, IT and cyber will provide a competitive edge, making the CISO invaluable to the organisation. 

1. Start with business outcomes: Align cyber objectives with revenue growth, customer trust, operational resilience and regulatory obligations. Establish risk appetite at the board level and translate it into measurable control objectives.
2. Align with enterprise architecture: Ensure security patterns match the target-state IT and data architecture (including cloud, edge, AI pipelines). Reference architectures and guardrails are created to embed security by design.
3. Risk-driven prioritisation: Apply a practical, threat-focused risk model (crown jewels, critical processes, third parties) to guide your investment and remediation efforts. Whenever possible, try to quantify the risk.
4. Operationalise cyber security within the business: Transition from constantly being in “projects mode” to a more integrated "security product within business processes mode" with defined SLAs, roadmaps and owners.
5. Prove value with metrics: Introduce outcome metrics linked to business KPIs, time-to-detect/respond, control coverage and improved customer response times.

• AI-powered defence and governance: Incorporate AI for detection engineering, anomaly detection and automatic responses. However, ensure it includes model risk management, as well as fairness and bias checks.
• Third-party and supply chain resilience: Ongoing assurance of vendors, open source components, MSPs and monitoring for exposure risks.
• OT/IOT and edge security: Segmentation, zero trust at the edge and outcome-based monitoring to ensure safety and availability.
• Human-centred security: Analysing behaviours, role-based empowerment and start tracking ownership and confidence levels – not just team participation.

Besides the personal perks, such as a bonus that moves you to tears and access to the company's Ferrari (okay, time to get serious now), there are significant advantages for companies that see cyber security as an investment.

1. Faster, safer innovation: Security guardrails allow quick cloud and AI deployment without repeated rework.
2. Enhanced trust and brand resilience: Clear governance and transparency set you apart in competitive markets.
3. Reduced total cost of risk: Fewer incidents, faster recovery and more intelligent spending through risk-based prioritisation. Reduced audit and cyber insurance premiums may also result.

For guidance on securing a strategic position for cyber security and gaining stronger business support, don’t try to go it alone – lean on the pack for assistance. Wolfpack Information Risk's business-focused consulting approach and time-efficient platforms will quickly help elevate the cyber security unit.