In the past, cybersecurity was mainly an IT task focused on system updates and antivirus software. Now, even small and midsize businesses rely on technology daily, making cybersecurity a priority for CEOs. Why? Because, protecting IT assets is essential for protecting your company’s future and reputation. In this article, we cover three critical cybersecurity questions every CEO should ask.
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Why is Cybersecurity Important to a Business Leader?
Cybersecurity should be important to a business leader because a single breach can undo years of growth and customer trust building. Plus, it hands competitors an opening into their environment – inviting a possible breach.
Leaders who invest in comprehensive cybersecurity understand:
- What goes into keeping cyber threats at bay.
- Are aware of the potential consequences of failing to do so.
- Are better equipped to steer the organization toward success and profitability than a CEO who doesn’t have an active interest in the topic.
The good news is that more and more CEOs are becoming aware that modern organizations need more than just an antivirus and firewall to protect themselves.
This is evident from the steady growth of global cybersecurity spending. Worldwide spending on information security made a massive jump from $40.8 billion in 2019 to $213 billion in 2025.
Unfortunately, throwing large amounts of money at the latest tools and products doesn’t automatically result in better cyber defenses.
CEOs should first know the answers to the three questions listed below before making any cybersecurity-related decision.
3 Questions CEOs Should Ask About Cybersecurity
1. Are there any privacy regulations we need to comply with?
Achieving compliance with relevant privacy regulations should be the top cybersecurity priority for every organization for three main reasons:
- 1. It helps avoid heavy fines in the event of a data breach.
- 2. It improves customer trust and loyalty.
- 3. It strengthens the organization’s cybersecurity posture.
Privacy regulations offer tangible benefits, so they’re certainly not annoyances that make it difficult for hard-working business owners to do their jobs.
2. What is the weakest cybersecurity link in our organization?
Hollywood movies make it seem like most cyberattacks happen because a highly skilled hacker set their sights on a large enterprise, one that stores mountains of sensitive data, before exploiting an undiscovered vulnerability using sophisticated techniques.
Current data tells a different story. Google’s Threat Intelligence team tracked 90 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in the wild in 2025. And 48 percent of those targeted technology, an all-time high.
However, many of the flaws behind those exploits were ordinary problems that could have been fixed, including software that:
- Never checked what a user typed into a form before acting on it
- Let someone reach a level of access they shouldn’t have had
The bigger shift is in how attackers reach employees. KnowBe4 found that 86 percent of phishing attacks were written or generated by AI. Additionally, calendar invite phishing rose by 49 percent, and attacks that targeted Microsoft Teams rose by 41 percent.
Knowing that employees are the weakest cybersecurity link in every organization, and that AI is making the attacks aimed at them harder to catch, CEOs should focus on creating cybersecurity employee awareness by investing in ongoing training on the topic.
The goal should be nothing less than the transformation of employees from the weakest link into the first layer of defense.
Discover 16 essential cybersecurity controls your small business needs to reduce risk and avoid costly damages associated with a cyberattack.
3. Can outsourcing cybersecurity make our organization more resilient?
The threats facing your organization have become so complex and hostile that navigating them can quickly feel like walking through a minefield.
One wrong step could potentially have disastrous consequences for the entire organization and its customers and business partners.
Realizing that ensuring there’s sufficient protection against the latest and most dangerous cyber threats while focusing on core business activities is a challenging feat, a growing number of organizations are outsourcing their cybersecurity to third parties.
The global managed security services market alone was worth an estimated $38.31 billion in 2025 and is projected to nearly double to $76.96 billion by 2031, per Mordor Intelligence. Why? Well, because more organizations are realizing that finding a managed IT services provider is faster and cheaper than trying to build a security team in-house.
Organizations that outsource their cybersecurity have the chance to benefit from:
- Round-the-clock support provided by dedicated security specialists
- Access to best-in-class cybersecurity solutions
- Threat detection and response
- Multi-layered protection
- Security awareness training & simulated phishing testing
These and other benefits of cybersecurity outsourcing make the practice an excellent choice for all organizations that don’t want to take any chances. But, at the same time, don’t want cybersecurity to consume their entire focus.
