How Can You Effectively Communicate Risks to Non-Technical Stakeholders?
Network Security Tips
How Can You Effectively Communicate Risks to Non-Technical Stakeholders?
To help you effectively communicate cybersecurity risks to non-technical stakeholders, we asked cybersecurity consultants and InfoSec analysts for their best advice. From using relatable scenarios and business impact to emphasizing human impact with specific examples, here are the top four tips these professionals shared.
- Use Relatable Scenarios and Business Impact
- Utilize Visuals and Focus on Impact
- Translate Risks to Business Outcomes
- Emphasize Human Impact with Specific Examples
Use Relatable Scenarios and Business Impact
In my experience, the most effective way to communicate cybersecurity risks to non-technical stakeholders is to use relatable scenarios and emphasize the business impact. For instance, during a compliance review, I explained the risk of missing security controls by comparing it to leaving the front door of our office unlocked overnight. I highlighted how this oversight could lead to unauthorized access to critical systems, resulting in potential regulatory fines and damaging audits. By framing the risk in terms of business disruptions and financial penalties, stakeholders were able to understand the severity and supported the necessary investments needed to implement the required security controls.
Utilize Visuals and Focus on Impact
An effective way to communicate risks to non-technical stakeholders is to use visual representations and focus specifically on the impact of the risks. Once you explain the potential consequences in reputational, operational, or financial terms, they will understand the urgency of taking action. The order of addressing risks can then be determined by likelihood once the impact is clear.
Translate Risks to Business Outcomes
When speaking to non-technical stakeholders, tech jargon is almost always overwhelming and unhelpful. I can guarantee that anything you say will go straight over their head if it’s too technical.
My advice is to translate and present the risks in a way that resonates with them and emphasize how they could impact business outcomes; people are more likely to tune into conversations about substantial financial loss and reputation damage.
Sometimes, discussing technical aspects is inevitable, so you need to ensure that you know who you are talking to and what level of knowledge they have about the topic to help ensure you get the risks across. If you have it in your own skill set that you can explain complex technicalities in a way that even those with only a very basic understanding could understand, this can be a valuable asset in effectively communicating technical risks.
Emphasize Human Impact with Specific Examples
As a leader in healthcare IT, communicating cyber risks effectively means focusing on the human impact. I emphasize how a data breach could affect patients and staff, not just the technical details. For example, I explain that unpatched software vulnerabilities could allow hackers to access private health records and sell them on the dark web.
Using specific examples helps make risks tangible, so I might share details of past healthcare cyberattacks and their consequences. However, I balance these sobering examples with clear solutions, like multi-factor authentication, data encryption, and regular risk assessments. Healthcare organizations must know there are steps they can take to strengthen security.
I find that board members and executives best understand risks and solutions when I present data visualizations, not just reports. A heat map showing the areas of greatest vulnerability in the network infrastructure resonates more than a list of IP addresses. While cyber risks can seem abstract, visuals give non-technical stakeholders a way to grasp threats intuitively and make well-informed risk management decisions. With the right approach, healthcare organizations can implement cybersecurity strategies to safeguard what matters most: patient health and trust.
