Key Learnings from 2023

So what have we learned as Battleground in 2023?

The first thing is that cyber is definitely still a major topic for management and boards.

Of the over 100 exercises that we did in 2023, 99% of them were cyber related.

But the way that cyber is done has moved on. It’s not only about data theft and loss, it’s also about what happens if the cyber attack is inside, from an insider impacts our ability to operate.

So a broader understanding of cyber has definitely come to the forefront in 2023, including whether we pay a ransom. It’s not necessarily black and white. There is some grey there.

There’s also the understanding that business continuity plans are definitely alive and well since covid. Whereas pre covid it was all about loss of sight. Now, business continuity planning includes what do I do if I lose my IT, or what do I do if I lose my key vendor, or critical third party. And critical third parties and supplier management is a key thing that we have definitely seen come to the forefront in the past year.

Also, involvement of the board in the way that we think about our crisis management and the way that we think about our responses. We’ve been doing many more board exercises with management to consider how they interact and how they work together.

And finally, a focus on resilience. Resilience, whether you are in the financial services or any other industry and whether you’re regulated or not, the resilience thinking and bringing together risk, continuity, crisis, disaster recovery and emergency management so that there’s a holistic thinking about the way that the company thinks is really important.