The Critical Role of a Secure Board Portal for the Chief Information Security Officer

The globally connected society organizations function in today has made it necessary to address, combat, and prevent cybersecurity threats. At the board level, companies are attempting to keep their members, C-suite executives, and employees safe from such attacks. Chief Information Security Officers are now becoming a mainstream high-level executive position to oversee security needs. The Chief Information Security Officer has an extensive job description, which varies wildly from company to company. However, when Chief Information Security Officers implement a secure board portal for the board of directors and executives, they can be sure that even the organizations’ most sensitive information is safe and secure.

The Chief Security Officer was once a position for managing physical security threats. As cybersecurity risk has grown exponentially, the role of CSO has evolved into the role of Chief Information Security Officer, which oversees both physical and digital security risks. “The modern CSO is a pathfinder and problem-solver for the organization,” says Amanda Fennell, CSO at Relativity. “…working closely with a diverse set of IT and engineering teams to envision, strategize, and execute on a multi-faceted program within a rapidly changing scope of compliance and governance.” Chief Information Security Officers also have the ability to implement a secure board portal just as agile and innovative as their role in an organization.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Chief Information Security Officer

The role of Chief Information Security Officer reports directly to the CEO or oftentimes, directly to the board of directors. Therefore, the need for a secure board portal for sensitive discussions, documents, and data is an essential tool for this prominent role. The duties and responsibilities of Chief Information Security Officers vary by industry, the size of the organization, and how strictly the organization is regulated by federal and state laws. However, the most successful security experts have the inherent ability to strategize, implement, and manage the security backbone of the companies they serve.

Anticipate, Plan, and Strategize New Threats

In the realm of cybersecurity crimes and data breaches, Chief Information Security Officers are tasked with a proactive approach to anticipating, planning, and strategizing before the unthinkable occurs. This responsibility includes analyzing potential threats and monitoring company teams and tools including firewalls, databases, and a secure board portal.

One of the most important duties of the Chief Information Security Officer is to anticipate threats that may occur with the launch of a new product or platform and brief executives and the board on these potential risks. This is a key area where a secure board portal is helpful. Hackers often target C-suite executives and board members due to their discussions of sensitive information including security vulnerabilities.

A secure board portal, like Govenda, makes protected communication seamless. While email is the least effective way to collaborate over sensitive information, Govenda Discussions allows users to securely message and chat about important documents, board security initiatives, and new product launches.

Data Loss and Proactive Fraud Prevention

Chief Information Security Officers are tasked with overseeing the flow of information in a company and what tools are used to monitor that information. This includes sensitive information such as source code that employees may be emailing outside of the organization or intercepted in transit.

At the executive and board level, a secure board portal houses and encrypts all documents and data while in transit and at rest. Two-factor authentication allows for secure board portal users to double up on security by requiring 2 forms of login credentials. Admins also have the ability to set security permissions for almost all secure board portal features. If a user’s phone, tablet, or computer is lost, stolen, or compromised secure board portal remote wiping features ensure that data is not lost or intercepted by a third party.

Building a Stringent Security Plan for the Entire Company

The architect behind a company’s security plan is often the Chief Information Security Officer. They are usually responsible for deciding what tools, programs, software, and third parties are used in security systems. A secure board portal should always be part of a company’s security initiative, especially at the executive and board level. Chief Information Security Officers can use a secure board portal to set permissions and segment groups and individuals as to what documents and data they are permitted to view.

Chief Information Security Officers can also extend the security benefits of a secure board portal to other levels in their organization. A secure board portal eliminates the risks of paper documentation and creates a safe platform where only group members can access documents. Reduce the security risks of emailing sensitive files by providing anytime, anywhere access to confidential documents in a highly secure board portal. Govenda secure board portal administrators also have the ability to safely purge annotations, voting ballots, discussions, notes, and documents.

Managing a Security Committee

In addition to working with IT and engineering, the Chief Information Security Officer works closely with a group of appointed individuals that make up the Security Committee, Crisis Committee, and/or Computer Security Incident Response Team. Implementing a secure board portal for this group of individuals is imperative for security best practices.

In addition to accessing sensitive documents and data through a secure board portal, committee members can vote and sign off on key decisions through Govenda Voting and eSign. Administrators, such as the Chief Information Security Officer, can set voting permissions for each group to ensure that important decisions are reached efficiently in the secure board portal platform. The Chief Information Security Officer can rely on Govenda’s military-grade digital signature technology that includes tamper-evident encryption and legal audit trails. Govenda secure board portal also makes this all possible with our unlimited user model.

Implementing a Training Program for All Executives and Employees

Once risks are established, analyzed, targeted, and a plan is in place, the Chief Information Security Officer will create a comprehensive training program for every level of the company. At the employee level, the Chief Information Security Officer should address email usage, bring your own device procedures, and the Internet of Things policies.

At the executive and board level, the Chief Information Security Officer should present better ways to secure communication and documentation. This initiative should include the implementation of a secure board portal to keep all company information safe from apparent cybersecurity threats.

Fostering Good Governance

The ultimate role of the Chief Information Security Officer is to foster good governance for the organizations they aim to protect from security threats. “Good governance can involve setting up a framework based on factors important to the business, and making sure the entire cybersecurity organization is functioning well,” reports CNBC. “A lack of governance can lead to big problems, such as CEOs never getting a clear picture of significant cyber problems in their organization, or senior officials never getting properly trained on how to spot phishing attempts.” By implementing a secure board portal into a company’s’ best practices, good governance is fostered and all stakeholders are informed and knowledgeable about security initiatives.

This mission of today’s evolving role of Chief Information Security Officer encapsulates a variety of responsibilities including protecting brand reputation, market share, and investor relations. Implementing a Chief Information Security Officer allows an organization to move from compliance-driven security protocols to a model-driven by intelligence and proactive cybersecurity agility.

A secure board portal, like Govenda, was architected with speed, security, and elegant use in mind for the prominent role of security officials.

Interested in learning more about Govenda’s award-winning, secure board portal? Let’s start the conversation today!