Mind the Gap

Global Report Reveals Alignment Issues Between Security Teams and the C-Suite are Exposing Organizations to Increased Cyber Risk

Dynatrace (NYSE: DT), the leader in unified observability and security, released its annual CISO survey today. This year’s report, “The state of application security in 2024”, reveals that organizations are struggling with internal communication barriers, which hinder their ability to address cybersecurity threats. The results indicate that CISOs find it difficult to drive alignment between security teams and the C-suite, leaving gaps in the organization’s understanding of cyber risk. As a result, they find themselves more exposed to advanced cyber threats, at a time when AI-driven attacks are on the rise.

In this year’s report, Dynatrace explored these communication gaps to better understand how a unified approach to observability and security can help teams collaborate more effectively and reduce exposure to risk.

Key findings include:

• Lack of C-level and board alignment leads to cyber risks: CISOs struggle to drive alignment between security teams and the C-suite, with 87% of CISOs saying application security is a blind spot at the CEO and board level.
• Security teams are too technical: Seven out of ten C-suite executives interviewed say security teams talk in technical terms without providing business context. However, 75% of CISOs highlight the issue is rooted in security tools that cannot generate insights that C-level executives and boards of directors can use to understand business risks and prevent threats.
• AI is driving more advanced cyber threats: Addressing this technology and communications gap is becoming more critical as the rise of AI-driven attacks and cyber threats significantly increase business risk.

Against this backdrop, nearly three-quarters (72%) of CISOs say their organization has experienced an application security incident in the past two years. These incidents carry significant risk, with CISOs highlighting the common consequences they’ve experienced, including impacted revenue (47%), regulatory fines (36%), and lost market share (28%).

“Cybersecurity incidents can have devastating consequences for organizations and their customers, so the issue has rightfully become a critical board-level concern,” said Bernd Greifeneder, Chief Technology Officer at Dynatrace. “However, many CISOs are struggling to drive alignment between security teams and senior executives because they’re unable to elevate the conversation from bits and bytes to specific business risks. CISOs urgently need to find a way to overcome this barrier and create a culture of shared responsibility for cybersecurity. This will be critical to improving their ability to respond effectively to security incidents and minimize their risk exposure.”