Defending Your Networks: Lessons from the Pentagon

Video description

With military-grade attacks on corporate networks an everyday occurrence, C-suite leaders must take personal responsibility for protecting their companies. The vast majority of companies in the U.S. and elsewhere are more vulnerable to cyberattacks than necessary, say Admiral James A. “Sandy” Winnefeld, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Christopher Kirchhoff, special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and David M. Upton of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. To close the gap, CEOs can learn from the U.S. military, which has become adept at defending its networks. One of the most important lessons emerging from the military’s experience is that, while technical upgrades are crucial, minimizing human errors is even more important. Mistakes by network administrators and users—gaps in patching legacy systems, misconfigured settings, and violations of standard procedures—are the genesis of the overwhelming majority of successful attacks. In this HBR webinar, the authors explain how companies can apply the principles of “high reliability organizations” (HROs) to dramatically improve their security.