For many years, cybersecurity lived inside the walls of the IT department. It was seen as technical work—patching systems, configuring firewalls, installing updates, managing access. If something went wrong, the instinct across most organizations was the same: call IT.
But cyber incidents today don’t unfold as purely technical events. They disrupt billing, scheduling, logistics, customer touch points, vendor relationships, and regulatory obligations. They have direct financial repercussions. They affect trust, reputation, and long-term brand credibility. In every major breach of the last decade, the organizations that struggled most weren’t missing technology—they were missing leadership involvement.
The Change Healthcare ransomware attack in early 2024 is a stark reminder. Attackers reportedly gained access through a compromised account that lacked multi-factor authentication on a critical system.
What followed wasn’t simply an IT outage. Pharmacies couldn’t process prescriptions. Hospitals reverted to manual operations. Insurance claims piled up. Healthcare providers went unpaid for weeks. Regulators demanded answers. Patients were confused and frustrated.
And all of it required coordination not only from IT but from legal teams, compliance officers, executives, PR staff, financial leaders, and countless external partners. The estimated financial impact reached into the billions.
Incidents like this reinforce one crucial truth: cyber risk is not a technical issue to be contained—it is a business issue that must be led.
The Shift in the Cyber Landscape
Cyber criminals today increasingly bypass hardened perimeter defenses and instead go after identity, human error, supply chains, and business processes. Social engineering attacks—crafted phone calls, impersonation attempts, convincing emails—are now as dangerous as technical exploits. Attackers also target vendors and partners, knowing that one weak link can open the door to an entire network.
At the same time, regulations have evolved. The SEC now expects board-level oversight of cybersecurity. Many industries have mandatory reporting timelines measured in hours, not weeks. Cyber insurance carriers expect clear evidence of leadership involvement when assessing coverage or approving claims.
Technology alone can no longer insulate an organization from cyber risk. That responsibility extends into strategy, governance, communication, and decision-making—all areas that fall under business leadership.
Why IT Cannot Own Cyber Risk Alone
IT teams are essential, but they simply cannot cover the full scope of what a cyber incident demands. They can isolate systems, investigate root causes, secure identities, or rebuild servers—but they cannot determine the organization’s risk tolerance, approve emergency budgets, coordinate legal requirements, or communicate with customers. These responsibilities lie in the business.
Cyber incidents require choices about which systems must stay online even while compromised, which vendors need to be notified, how to preserve evidence for claims or regulators, and how to manage employee communication. They also involve balancing reputational risk against operational risk—an executive-level decision no IT team can or should make without guidance.
During a real incident, IT works to contain. Leadership works to stabilize. And both sides must work together if recovery is going to happen quickly and cleanly.
How Leadership Shapes Incident Outcomes
Executives influence every major component of an effective cyber response, whether they realize it or not.
Decision speed often determines whether a breach stays small or expands. If leaders hesitate—because they lack clarity, confidence, or a clear plan—the organization loses precious time.
Risk appetite shapes whether systems are shut down or kept online for the sake of operations. Without a predefined understanding of risk tolerance, teams are forced to make high-stakes decisions blindly.
Regulatory obligations demand executive awareness. Many industries require swift reporting during an incident. Missing a deadline because leadership wasn’t prepared can trigger investigations, fines, and additional scrutiny.
Stakeholder communication—with employees, customers, partners, and investors—becomes a leadership responsibility. The way executives communicate can either build trust or deepen reputational wounds.
Financial continuity decisions—budget approvals, vendor negotiations, insurance coordination—cannot be delegated.
Reputation management is also shaped by leadership. The organization’s credibility hinges far more on how executives show up during a crisis than on how quickly systems come back online.
When leaders are prepared and aligned, recovery is coordinated and efficient. When they are disconnected or uninformed, the breach expands in scope, confusion sets in, and the business suffers.
What Executive Ownership Really Looks Like
Leadership ownership of cyber risk doesn’t mean becoming a cybersecurity expert. It means stepping into the strategic and governance responsibilities that sit above the technical layer.
Executives should understand cyber risk the same way they understand financial risk, operational risk, or legal risk—through the lens of business continuity and resilience. Cyber readiness becomes a standing agenda item in strategic discussions, not a one-off IT update. Leaders should also participate in incident response exercises at least annually.
These simulations give executives firsthand experience with the decisions, pressures, and communication challenges that arise during a breach. Practice builds confidence—and exposes gaps before attackers do.
Ownership also means defining organizational risk tolerance. Which systems are mission-critical? How much downtime can the business survive? Which operations require immediate continuity? IT cannot answer these without leadership guidance.
Budget alignment is another critical area. Cybersecurity investment should reflect the organization’s true risk—not outdated assumptions or an over reliance on “what we did last year.” When leaders understand their role in cyber risk, they make better decisions about how and where to invest.
Finally, executives must set the tone. When leaders model good cybersecurity habits—using MFA, completing training, reporting suspicious activity—it signals to the rest of the organization that cybersecurity is not optional or “just an IT thing.” It’s a cultural expectation.
Cyber Risk Demands Cross-Functional Coordination
No major incident stays confined to the IT department. Every function has a stake:
Legal and compliance manage reporting obligations and evidence handling.
Finance tracks losses, reviews fraud risks, and coordinates insurance.
HR leads internal communication and workforce coordination.
PR crafts messaging to clients, employees, and the public.
Operations ensures continuity when systems are unavailable.
IT and security handle containment, forensics, and recovery.
- Executives unify all of these efforts so the organization can respond cohesively.
When these teams understand their roles and work together, incidents become manageable. When departments operate independently or wait passively for IT direction, confusion spreads and the incident grows.
Strengthening Cyber Resilience Through Leadership Action
Cyber resilience starts with clarity. Leaders don’t need to know every technical detail, but they do need to understand the structure, expectations, and decisions required of them during a breach.
This clarity is built through:
Executive participation in tabletop exercises.
Reviewing and approving incident response and business continuity plans.
Setting escalation protocols and communication expectations.
Supporting ongoing employee awareness through training and testing.
Ensuring secure communications and domain protections.
- Reviewing risk posture and preparedness annually.
Organizations become far more resilient when leadership steps into these responsibilities proactively rather than reactively.
How BizCom Global Helps Leaders Own Cyber Risk
BizCom Global’s services are intentionally designed to shift organizations toward leadership-centered cyber readiness.
RiskLOK™ provides the structure—documented roles, escalation paths, regulatory mapping, cross-functional workflows, and ongoing updates—to help leaders understand what’s expected of them during an incident. It transforms incident response documentation into a living, leadership-driven framework.
IRx simulations immerse executives and department leads in realistic scenarios, helping them practice decisions under pressure, test communication paths, and uncover hidden gaps before a real attacker does.
CyberSafe 360 ensures employees—the organization’s largest attack surface—stay trained, tested, and compliant.
TrustedSend™ strengthens email authentication, deliverability, and domain integrity so communication remains reliable and secure.
Together, these services empower leadership teams to confidently own cyber risk and steer their organizations through crisis with clarity instead of chaos.
A Leadership Self-Assessment
Executives can start by asking themselves a few straightforward questions:
If IT called right now to report a breach, would I know my role?
Does our organization have a clear, documented, and practiced incident response plan?
Have I participated in a cyber simulation or tabletop exercise in the last year?
Are we prepared to meet our regulatory reporting obligations?
Do we have a shared understanding of risk tolerance and continuity priorities?
Are our employees trained and ready to report suspicious activity?
- Do I feel confident in our ability to communicate clearly during a cyber crisis?
If any answer is uncertain, leadership has an opportunity to strengthen the organization’s resilience.
Conclusion & CTA
Cyber risk is business risk. IT teams play a critical role in containment and recovery, but they cannot carry the weight of regulatory exposure, operational continuity, financial decision-making, communication strategy, or reputational impact. These responsibilities belong to leadership.
Organizations that recognize this and build leadership-driven cyber resilience recover faster, reduce financial losses, and maintain trust—even under significant pressure.
BizCom Global helps leaders step into this role with the frameworks, training, and tools needed to guide their organizations confidently through any cyber challenge.
If you’re ready to build cyber resilience from the top down, we’re ready to help.
Learn how BizCom Global empowers leaders to own cyber risk and strengthen organizational readiness.
