Author: Grant Roy, CTO, Highground.io
Our story has been in the making for a long time, but this is the first time I’m telling it out loud. It’s humbling to believe someone’s listening (hi!).
When you’re an electrical engineer (bear with me, I will land this analogy), I’m willing to bet that you would do all it takes to prevent your next-door neighbours from finding out. Why? Because no matter how many times you explain that you design protection systems, at the first sign of a fault with their lawnmower, they’ll be hollering over the fence with certainty that you can fix it.
If you’re reading this as a fellow IT Manager (Hi, I’m Grant the CTO), you know what I’m talking about. People may think you’re pretty introverted, but you have one of the noisiest jobs going. You’re swamped, but you’ve come to accept that your non-technical peers and seniors will never quite understand. And now that you’ve been tasked with making tough calls on cybersecurity, it can feel like everyone, including the board, thinks that cybersecurity is simply a part of IT.
Helping you get it done
I can’t lie, the HighGround.io platform is the tool that finally lets you do the Cyber part of your job how you were always supposed to be doing it (and always hoped to be doing – password resets are SO DULL). So, to help you take control, guide tricky conversations in your favour, and reclaim your buried potential, let’s start by knowing how well you are doing.
Get started with your CyberScore
You can’t improve what you can’t measure, so what’s the first rule for managing your cybersecurity? Know your baseline. (Drum roll, please. HighGround.io CyberScore enters the conversation). It’s the ultimate representation of your organisation’s cyber posture, like a credit score, but cooler and easier to understand. The beauty of CyberScore is that it provides a simple visual representation that even non-technical stakeholders can understand. It’s a common language that everyone in your organisation can speak. And it’s the line in the sand between where you are and where you need to be.
With HighGround.io, you can generate a CyberScore before integrating any tool or software through the Attack Surface module. The platform uses custom logic to calculate your CyberScore using attested data to generate KPIs, it also considers your Compliance Posture. But if you want the extra secret sauce to getting a clearer picture of your Cyber Posture and Cyber Threat Level, that’s when you add (integrate) the data from your tools for a ‘verified’ score. You know, for those pesky suppliers or partners who don’t want to take your ‘tick a box’ word for it.
How do I explain risk to non-technical people?
For non-technical stakeholders, all you need to do is get to the green. That’s the target CyberScore that everyone can understand. The next step is then explaining that you need to stay in the green, but one step at a time. Once you’re all on the same page, you can work on improving your score step by step and getting the budget to be able to do so.
But what we’re really talking about here is the board, right? Yeah, having John in accounts on board is never a bad thing, but you’d like the CEO to understand that Cyber is a business risk, on equal footing with revenues and expenditure. And you’d like an easier way of asking for some pennies to mitigate that risk and even push some of that crippling responsibility back up the chain of command.
So let’s get them on board.
HighGround.io is a super-visual platform that makes communication about cybersecurity easy. You can generate easy-to-understand reports with just a click of a button, which can be sent to your CEO or any other senior decision-maker in your organisation. When you need additional insights, they’re ready and waiting for you. Simplicity isn’t such a bad thing and avoids the risk of alienating your budget holders and senior decision-makers with information they simply don’t need to understand.
But what happens if you want to get down to the technical details? HighGround.io, has you covered with its Technical Drilldown feature, allowing you to dive deep into the nuts and bolts of your Cyber Posture.
1000 tools and a spreadsheet
Our solution is built on solving the most frustrating challenges we’ve encountered, particularly information overload. With so many disparate systems in operation, it can be hard to keep track of everything, and the opportunity to use a tool like HighGround.io has the power to free you from all the legacy issues associated with the job. We solved this problem by bringing everything together in one platform. It’s a game-changer for anyone looking to simplify their cybersecurity management. One tool to rule them all, if you will. You may think I’m biased since I work for HighGround.io, but you don’t have to take my word for it, sign up.
Choose your own adventure
Your CyberScore is just the beginning of your HighGround.io experience, and it’s central to everything else, from getting a grip on your compliance with the Compliance Manager to managing suppliers/partners in the Supply Chain Manager to finding gaps in your Cyber Posture and plugging them with the HighGround.io Marketplace. And all of the above.
I’m ready for HighGround.io
Have you heard enough and are raring to go? Try Premium on a free trial today by signing up for a free account in a few easy steps, and once you’re in, choose the onboarding that’s right for you – Access our huge knowledge base of technical information, follow our interactive product tours, or even request a live demo, and you may even get me or the CEO. The entire HighGround.io experience is so upfront, it’s borderline rude. We’ve tried HARD to think of everything you haven’t, and we’re only here to make you feel good about it.
