The study by Diligent and Bitsight points to advanced security and strong risk or audit committees as good predictors of an enterprise’s financial success.
Cybersecurity preparedness and financial success are strongly correlated with companies that maintain strong security measures, outperforming peers with only basic defenses by as much as 372% in shareholder returns.
The report, which analyzed data from more than 4,000 global companies, found that over three years, the average total shareholder return for companies with advanced security performance ratings was 67%, compared to 14% for companies with only basic ratings.
Over five years, companies in the advanced performance range showed an average total shareholder return of 71%, while those in the basic performance range recorded an average return of 37%.
“These findings show that cybersecurity is not just an IT problem — it is an enterprise risk that has a material impact on a company’s near-term performance and long-term health, and one that management and the board need to be up to speed on,” said Dottie Schindlinger, Executive Director of the Diligent Institute. “With increased pressure from regulators for organizations to demonstrate how they oversee cybersecurity, now is the time for boards and leaders to build their competency around cyber risk.”
“Cybersecurity is no longer about simply mitigating risk, it’s now a key indicator of financial performance. Companies must treat cybersecurity as a cornerstone of their business strategy, guided by clear, ambitious benchmarks, and backed by the full support of their boards, » added Dr. Homaira Akbari, CEO of AKnowledge Partners, Board of Director member for Banco Santander and Landstar System and member of Bitsight’s Advisory Board.
Additional findings include:
Companies with measurably stronger cybersecurity performance deliver higher financial performance than their peers
- The average total shareholder return (TSR) for companies with advanced security performance ratings over a five-year and three-year period was 71% and 67%, respectively, while companies in the basic performance range delivered 37% and 14% TSR over the same time frames.
- Companies with a higher number of independent directors are more likely to have advanced security ratings. About 76% of directors on the boards of these companies with advanced security ratings are independent, compared to 66% in the basic security performance category.
Companies with specialized risk or audit committees have better cybersecurity performance
- The median cybersecurity rating for companies with specialized risk committees is 730, compared to 720 for companies with just audit committees, indicating there is not a significant difference in the ability of the audit committee to oversee cyber risk compared to a specialized risk committee.
- Having a cybersecurity expert on the general board is not enough – those experts need to be directly involved with cyber oversight. Companies with cybersecurity experts on either audit or specialized risk committees achieve an average security performance rating of 700, whereas companies with cybersecurity experts on the general board, but not on either committee attain a security rating of 580.
Highly regulated industries outperform other industries in cybersecurity performance
- The healthcare sector had the highest average security ratings overall at 730. Of the companies with advanced security performance ratings, 33% came from the financial services sector, with an average rating of 720.
- By comparison, 24% of companies with basic security performance ratings came from the industrial sector, and the sector with the lowest overall performance rating was the communications sector, at 630.
« The research shows that market-leading companies that prioritize cyber risk management outperform their peers,” said Derek Vadala, Chief Risk Officer, Bitsight. “This cannot be achieved without a strong understanding of cybersecurity performance and clear benchmarks shared across the executive team and board. The role of the CISO has shifted. Cyber risk is a key component of business performance. »
View the full report here.