Sustainable action is important - that's clear. But those responsible for security repeatedly find themselves caught between the conflicting priorities of sustainability and effectiveness. This is especially true in the area of cyber security. Because of constantly growing infrastructures and the spread of cloud services on the one hand, and ever new threats from cyber criminals on the other, cyber security remains a challenge - especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. But in addition to growing risks, the importance of sustainability is also increasing: Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) is the keyword. As a further development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CDR considers the influence of the company in the context of digital transformation and is thus becoming the epitome of sustainability in times of advancing digitization and automation. But how can cyber security be made sustainable? And what do companies need to do to meet their digital responsibilities?

Proaction instead of reaction:

Instead of reacting to new risks or security-related incidents, companies must create sustainable cyber resilience. This strategic concept aims to develop an efficient and effective approach to ensuring cyber security - as close as possible to the company's business processes. To this end, not only must interfaces be identified and synergies created, but cyber risks must be viewed over the long term in order to be able to adapt to changes in the risk environment at an early stage. This begins with the selection of possible IT solutions and the review of the supply chain and ends with replacement at the end of the lifecycle.

Systematic management:

By establishing a holistic Information Security Management System (ISMS), you can sustainably strengthen cyber security and create a systematic framework for continuous improvement. In this way, potential for improvement can be identified and implemented in a targeted manner as part of the ISMS. With the help of clearly defined performance indicators, not only the effectiveness of the developed protection concepts but also their sustainability can be measured, transparency created and trust gained.

Creating awareness:

Sustainable cyber security and digital responsibility can only be successful if they are supported by all stakeholders. To emphasize the relevance of cyber security and create a uniform understanding of digital sustainability, continuous training and awareness measures in the area of cyber security and corporate digital responsibility are essential. This is the only way to ensure that employees and managers play their part in dealing with cyber security risks in a sustainable manner.

Advantages are obvious

The benefits of sustainable cyber security speak for themselves: by taking a long-term view, companies can better understand cyber risks, deploy resources more efficiently, and continuously review the effectiveness of protection concepts. Sustainable cyber security is strategic and therefore long-term, ensuring that decisions made today will still be relevant and effective tomorrow. It thus becomes an expression of digital responsibility towards our environment and society.