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| After performing all that research, it's finally time to distill it down into a clear set of cybersecurity objectives. Those objectives will act as the underlying core for the actions the business will take to develop policies, fill in security gaps, monitor progress, and educate staff. The objectives that come out of this step "should be specific, realistic, and actionable."<ref name="NARUCCyber18">{{cite web |url=https://pubs.naruc.org/pub/8C1D5CDD-A2C8-DA11-6DF8-FCC89B5A3204 |format=PDF |title=Cybersecurity Strategy Development Guide |author=Cadmus Group, LLC |publisher=National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners |date=30 October 2018 |accessdate=23 July 2020}}</ref> In a world where cyber threats are constantly evolving, being "100 percent secure against cyber threats" is an unrealistic goal, for example.<ref name="NARUCCyber18" />
| | Say you previously noted your business has a few password and other access management policies in place, but they are relatively weak compared to where you want to be. If you haven't already, now is a good time to start tracking those and other policies that need to be updated or even created from scratch. Note that you may also discover additional policies that should be addressed during the next step of selecting and refining security controls. Consider performing this step in tandem with the next to gain the clearest idea of all the policy updates the business will require to meet its cybersecurity objectives. |
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| One way to go about this process is to go back to the cybersecurity strategy you created (see 5.1.3) and place your objectives under the strategic goals they support. Perhaps one of your goals is to promote a culture of cybersecurity awareness among all employees and contractors. Under that goal you could list objectives such as "improve subject-matter expertise among leadership" and "support and encourage biannual cybersecurity training exercises throughout the business." You may also want to, at this point, make mention of what prioritization the objectives have and what progress measurement mechanisms can and should be put in place. Finally, work a certain level of adaptability into the objectives, not only in what they should achieve but also how they should be evaluated and updated. Technology, attack vectors, and even business needs can change rapidly. The objectives you develop should take this into consideration, as should the review and update policy for the cybersecurity plan itself (discussed later).
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| It's important to note that at this point of identifying cybersecurity requirements and objectives, and into the subsequent two steps of identifying policies and selecting and refining controls, the concept of risk management should be front and center. In a 2016 letter to the U.S. Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, computing experts Lipner and Lampson emphasized the difficulty of cybersecurity risk management<ref name="LipnerRisk16">{{cite web |url=https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2016/09/16/s.lipner-b.lampson_rfi_response.pdf |format=PDF |title=Risk Management and the Cybersecurity of the U.S. Government - Input to the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity |author=Lipner, S.B.; Lampson, B.W. |date=September 2016 |accessdate=23 July 2020}}</ref>:
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| <blockquote>"It is impossible to measure precisely either the amount of security a given investment buys or the expected consequences of less than perfect security. Thus, decision makers must make security investments whose benefits are very uncertain. This makes it tempting to spend less on security and more on new programs or other alternatives with more visible benefits."</blockquote>
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| Despite these difficulties, the process of translating gap analysis and risk analysis into actionable and realistic objectives must be done. But you're close to or already have made the inroads to reaching this point. You've inventoried and examined the hardware and network settings you already use (5.3.1). You've examined your existing (and possibly even future) data and declared its criticality (5.3.2) in the context of the regulations, standards, and best practices affecting your assets and data (5.3.4). And you've reviewed your existing policies, looking for areas of improvement (5.3.3). You know where you are and where you want to go. Now the risk management components arrive in the form of objectives (5.3.8) that align with your overall cybersecurity strategy (5.1.3), the tangential cybersecurity policies requiring creation and modification (5.3.9), and the security controls chosen to support those objectives and policies (5.3.10). If you realize this full approach, cybyersecurity risk management should come naturally, by extension.
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| ==References==
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Say you previously noted your business has a few password and other access management policies in place, but they are relatively weak compared to where you want to be. If you haven't already, now is a good time to start tracking those and other policies that need to be updated or even created from scratch. Note that you may also discover additional policies that should be addressed during the next step of selecting and refining security controls. Consider performing this step in tandem with the next to gain the clearest idea of all the policy updates the business will require to meet its cybersecurity objectives.
