Board members and other executives are the key target of hackers. There is even a term for it – whaling. This has nothing to do with anyone’s personal dimensions, but rather that they are the big fish in the pond and have the most access to data.
Many times, executives and board members are also not technical so they don’t use sophisticated tools. Hackers know this too.
Boards are directly linked to their organization’s risk management – cyber, third party, supply chain and have other sensitive responsibilities like ESG, compliance, diversity and other subjects.
Non-profits have the additional responsibility of donor and fundraising information and they depend on the goodwill of those folks.
Non-profits also, often, have less security resources to protect themselves with.
So what do boards need to do to protect their companies?
- Make sure that all sensitive communications between board members and between the board and management – which it probably almost all communications except for the lunch order – are encrypted.
- Make sure that communications are integrated – chat, messaging, collaboration, store. Easy to use, secure, encrypted.
- Make sure the solution does not require a year’s worth of training to use
- Make sure that the solution can minimize weak links like lost devices
- Include the board and executive family members and home networks – they are often used and outside of the control of IT. Hackers know this and call it the soft underbelly.
If you don’t have a strategy for this, we can help you. It needs to be comprehensive, secure and, most importantly, easy to use. It also needs to be flexible enough to handle the unexpected. Also consider the board and executive non-corporate resources.
Call us and we will help you design a solution.
Credit: Help Net Security
