Data Security – The role of the CFO

Chief Financial Officers need to play a leading role to ensure data security within an organisation. Potential threats are proliferating and the financial impact of a breach of data security can be substantial. Consider how your turnover and profitability would be impacted due to a data security breach which could potentially hold your organisation to ransom or prevent users from performing their day to day activities.

A 2022 study by IBM found that the average cost of a data breach is $4.35 million USD, with the full impact going beyond the cost of remediation to include the cost of lost business that results from a tarnished corporate reputation or brand image, the loss of customers, and the loss of goodwill. When these factors are added in, the total cost of a data breach, while harder to calculate, is significantly higher.

The CFO needs to be a ‘champion’ of data security by communicating the benefits and risk mitigation implications of a comprehensive security plan. In addition, the CFO needs to ensure that sufficient effort and funding is allocated to this area. Another key role for the CFO is to take a close look at what systems are available on the market and decide if an in-house or a cloud based deployment is the most cost-effective and risk averse route for the organisation. 

Our advice is to take a broad view of security — to “invest” in security. If you decide to do this, you can build and deploy your own solution, of course, but cloud security is probably not one of your core competencies. And therefore, a better option would be to identify a cloud security provider who has built a cloud-native solution using deep security and DevOps experience. Such a solution, coupled with a well-thought-out security strategy, will go a long way toward ensuring that you have cloud security that keeps your business and your customers safe, while it also protects the interests of your investors, directors, and C-Level executives — as well as all the other stakeholders.

How can Infor SunSystems help?

The SunSystems Cloud solutions have been designed with data security at the forefront of our delivery. Infor and SunSystems utilise an array of tools, techniques and methodologies to ensure your data is constantly protected:

• Dedicated team of data security staff
• Constant deployment of the latest security patches
• Automatic code scanning before deployment to production environments
• Regular penetration testing
• Real-time vulnerability detection
• Comprehensive network, physical and infrastructure security measures
• Business Continuity Planning 

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