Overview
In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, cyber threats are becoming increasingly complex. Recognising that individuals and organisations cannot prevent all malicious attacks or cyber failures, while embracing the opportunities that digital communication brings, has led to the rise of cyber resilience. This report unpacks the concept of cyber resilience, outlining the evolution of the cyber paradigm and establishes a concept of successful cyber resilience.
Cyber resilience goes beyond cybersecurity, preventing attacks or simply getting back to operations-as-usual – it is about an organisation’s ability to minimise the impact of significant cyber incidents on its primary goals and objectives. The primary goals and objectives can be different for each organisation but will always include the protection of critical service delivery, stakeholder confidence and the principal assets that underpin value and position in the market.
Key messages
- Unpacking Cyber Resilience: This paper calls for a broader understanding of cyber resilience that goes beyond cybersecurity, defining it as an organisation’s ability to minimise the impact of significant cyber incidents on its primary goals and objectives.
- Cyber Resilience Beyond Operational Resilience: This definition also extends further than merely restoring operations; it considers the impact on internal and external stakeholders, financial and trading performance, tangible and intangible assets (e.g. staff well-being or public reputation), and ultimately entails unlocking growth after an incident.
- Critical Dependence on Digital: Amid the rapid digitalisation, organisations rely increasingly on digital technologies to achieve their primary goals and objectives, such as protecting service delivery, maintaining stakeholder trust, and safeguarding their assets.
- Rising Cyber Risks: With the digital landscape becoming increasingly complex and technology advancing rapidly, cyber risks have emerged as an ever-growing concern for organisations. Recognising that organisations cannot prevent all malicious attacks or cyber failures when embracing digitalisation has led to the rise of the cyber resilience paradigm.
- Leadership and Collaboration Imperative: Building cyber resilience is a leadership issue. It requires flexible strategies and sharing lessons learned among industry peers, emphasizing proactive collaboration and learning.
For more information on the report or Cyber Resilience Blueprint project, please contact us via email: cybercapacity@cs.ox.ac.uk
