Book Review: Beyond Cybersecurity

Reviewed by Mark H. Beaudry, Ph.D., CPP

01 June 2016

Print Issue: June 2016

Wiley; Wiley.com; 256 pages; $40

An excellent overview of IT issues, Beyond Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Digital Business offers a progressive approach to tackling the evolving landscape of cybersecurity. It’s not at all technical and extremely readable for security professionals at every level.

The book references historical attacks and uses them to provide recommendations for organizations to implement to protect themselves. The five authors bring different perspectives together to explore the benefits of a holistic, business-led approach.

Because many organizations struggle to coordinate efforts between the CIO office and business operations, it is critical to review and establish appropriate controls and policies. The authors recommend practical actions that make sense and assist with designing an organization’s digital resilience. The authors argue that corporations must change their mindset: cybersecurity is not necessarily a technology problem—it is an overall business problem.

Because the authors do an excellent job of explaining concepts and challenges, this book is a valuable resource for all security practitioners, even if cybersecurity is not part of their job. I recommend it to business leaders. It will help executives understand the problems at hand, as well as how organizations that protect themselves may get ahead of the competition.

Reviewer: Mark H. Beaudry, Ph.D., CPP, is chair of the ASIS Foundation Research Council.