Driving Positive Change: Building a Culture of Security with NIS2 and DORA

To begin with, it is possible to describe what NIS2 and DORA are.

As new threats are being registered in the sphere of cybersecurity, organizations are facing the requirements to incorporate security as factor into the operations field. In this regard, two newly developed frameworks – Network and Information Systems Directive 2 (NIS2) and DevSecOps Research and Assessment (DORA) – have been found to be quite useful.

NIS2 is a measure that has been launched by the European Union in order to enhance the level of preparedness and the reaction capacity of the important and the crucial assets with the intention of establishing the high standard of the cybersecurity protection in the EU. DORA on the other hand is still a framework which has been developed by google and this one provides a systemic approach to the implementation of security into SDLC.

The Impact Of NIS2 and DORA On Organizational Security

The European Union’s NIS2 Directive and the Digital Operational Resilience Act will affect your organization’s cybersecurity in the following manner: NIS2 targets important and critical operators of facilities and services such as healthcare, finance, and other crucial infrastructures; they are legally required to have sufficient security measures and report incidents.

While DORA provides a guideline on how to integrate security into the process of building software, this means that security will be more than an addendum in the process of developing software in the process of digital transformation.

How To Build A Culture Of Security With NIS2 and DORA

In order to make security a culture in your organization, it is mandatory to adhere to best practice which is in par with NIS2 and the principles of DORA. 

Here are the key steps to consider:

1. Establish a clear security vision and strategy: Propose a security strategy that will complement the company’s objectives and the aforementioned regulation of NIS2. Ensure that there is proper application of this strategy in the organization and communication of the same to the employees.
2. Invest in security awareness and training: Integrate security awareness training in the organizational culture and ensure that it is a recurrent process to provide the employees with information on threat, practices and their roles and responsibilities in developing and implementing security.
3. Empower employees to be security champions: Create a pool of security champions — persons out of whom you can tap to exemplify how to be compliant to the policies.
4. Integrate security into your processes and workflows: Ensure that security is incorporated in your firm’s approach, such as DevSecOps, depending on the DORA framework in Software development, Incidents, and risk.
5. Encourage a blame-free reporting culture: Promote and make it possible for employees to report security incidences or suspicions and ensure that employees are not penalized for bringing information to the management about security events.
6. Continuously monitor and improve: After implementing the security culture interventions, it is important to assess the security readiness level and evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented changes for maximum effectiveness.

The key components of a successful security culture

A successful security culture encompasses several key components, including:

1. Leadership commitment: Security awareness among employees, and security initiatives’ visibility and endorsement from senior management.
2. Clear communication: Measures that are communicated to the employees and customers in an open and clear manner, security policies and procedures as well as the measures to be taken in the event of an incident.
3. Employee engagement: Involvement of the lower ranking employees and the middle management apart from the top management to accept the change.
4. Continuous learning: Training and promotion of the employees to remind the employees of the new security threats and the new security technologies.
5. Accountability: They include the sections that focus on security, security that has been observed or taken and the consequences that accompany certain actions or inactions.
6. Collaboration: An exchange of information between the different units and the barter of information for the enhancement of security.

How to build a culture of security with NIS2 and DORA

To effectively drive positive change with NIS2 and DORA, consider the following best practices:

1. Align security with business objectives: Ensure that all your security activities are aligned closely with your company’s strategic plan.
2. Leverage existing frameworks and standards: Implement Security Frameworks for the creation of Security Culture such as; NIST, ISO, or COBIT.
3. Adopt a risk-based approach: To establish the amount of spending on security, one is required to assess the risks and find out the impacts of security breaches in an organization.
4. Foster cross-functional collaboration: Encourage collaboration between the representatives of the IT department and the security department and other departments of the organization to incorporate security into the business throughout the organization.
5. Measure and report on progress: Developing specific goals and objectives being based on the key performance indicators in order to prove the efficiency of the security culture initiatives on a regular basis.
6. Continuously adapt and improve: Security culture program should be evaluated and updated on regular bases to address new risks, changes in laws and policies, and company’s growth.

Overcoming challenges and obstacles in building a culture of security

Incorporating security culture in your organization might not be an easy process since it constitutes several activities. Some common obstacles you may face include:

1. Resistance to change: This is a major issue because the employees may not be willing to change their perceptions and behaviors as far as security practices that may be inconvenient or time-consuming are concerned.
2. Lack of security awareness: The players in a given context may not fully appreciate the importance of security or their roles with regard to the improvement of the security situation of a given organisation.
3. Competing priorities: At times this may not have the look of a big importance as compared to other goals and objectives of the business or organization more so when it slows the achievement of the other goals and objectives.
4. Limited resources: One issue that can be encountered is the availability of funds or the absence of professionals in the area of protection that can help in the implementation of the mentioned concepts.
5. Siloed organizational structure: The lack of coordination and organization of the working process in different silos and the subsequent poor communication are some of the factors that impede security measures’ implementation.

The role of leadership in promoting security culture

Leadership’s commitment to the security culture project and support for the project is very vital for the success of the project. Senior executives and managers play a crucial role in:

1. Setting the tone: Therefore, for leaders to influence the development of security as a priority in any organization, they have to support security activities.
2. Allocating resources: It also requires the budget and resources needed to develop and enforce security culture programs and personnel.
3. Fostering a blame-free environment: That is why the managers should encourage the workers to report cases of insecurity in the organization without fear of being punished.
4. Driving cultural change: This is where the management must take the lead through speeches and other actions that would assist the personnel to include security as one of the company’s values.
5. Monitoring and adjusting: In regard to the above-discussed security culture change programmes, it is suggested that leaders and managers should periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the process and make the necessary improvements.

Conclusion: NIS2 and DORA: the future of security culture

This implies that over time only the threat environment evolves while the requirement for building and sustaining a correct security culture in your organization increases. NIS2 enactment and the DORA framework adoption can be seen as a new and excellent opportunity to introduce positive change and enhance the organization’s readiness against cyber threats.

When your security endeavors are in harmony with these frameworks then they will be beneficial to your business since they encourage the culture of security among employees, improve the security levels of your firm and prepare your company to face the challenges of the ever expanding technological realm.

To get more information about how it is possible to set up the culture of security in your organization, you can download the guide ‘Implementing NIS2 and DORA for Organizational Security’ or address to our security experts.