Cybersecurity as a Team Sport: Shared Responsibility in Business

Cybersecurity as a Team Sport: Why Security Is Everyone's Responsibility

Imagine this scenario: Tomorrow, your company falls victim to a serious cyberattack. Will you tell the board that the IT department missed something? Or will you honestly admit that the entire security process was never owned by everyone involved?

The truth is: Cybersecurity is a team sport. Just like in soccer or basketball, it's not enough for individual players to excel while the rest of the team is unprepared. Security incidents occur where risks aren't systematically managed and where responsibility isn't clearly distributed.

Common Vulnerabilities in Practice

The most frequent security incidents don't arise from sophisticated hacking attacks but from avoidable gaps in the fundamentals:

Phishing and Lack of Awareness: An employee receives a convincingly authentic-looking email and clicks on a malicious link because they were never trained to recognize such attacks. The result: compromised credentials and a potential ransomware infection.

Inadequate Patch Management: A server with a known, publicly documented security vulnerability remains unpatched and is accessible via the internet. Attackers scan daily for such systems and can breach them within hours.

Missing Employee Offboarding Processes: A former employee with privileged access rights leaves the company, but their account isn't deactivated. Months later, this access could become a gateway, whether through malicious intent or data leak.

These examples demonstrate that cybersecurity is not an isolated IT task but a core business function, comparable to finance or operations. It spans people, processes, and technology.

Every Department's Role on the Security Team

Board and Executive Leadership

Top management bears ultimate responsibility. Cyber risk belongs on the permanent agenda of every board meeting. Specific questions leaders should ask themselves:

• Is cyber risk a standing agenda item in our meetings?
• Do we regularly conduct tabletop exercises to test our response capabilities in emergencies?
• Do we understand the business impact of different attack scenarios?
• Have we allocated sufficient budget and resources for cybersecurity?

Executive leadership must understand cybersecurity as a strategic issue, not as a technical detail that's "somehow handled" in the IT department.

CISO and IT Department

This is where operational responsibility lies, but not sole accountability. Chief Information Security Officers and IT teams must ensure:

• Does a live asset inventory exist that captures all systems, applications, and data assets?
• Are clear patching SLAs defined and being met?
• Are response times for incidents measured and continuously improved?
• Are there documented and tested incident response plans?
• Are penetration tests and vulnerability scans conducted regularly?

The IT department is the hub, but it cannot succeed alone.

Finance, HR, Legal, and Operations

These departments play a crucial role that's often underestimated:

Finance: Are budgets directly tied to risk reduction? Are security investments viewed as strategic expenditures or cost factors? The finance department must understand and support the business case for cybersecurity.

Human Resources (HR): Are new employees trained in security awareness from day one? Do clear onboarding and offboarding processes exist with a focus on access rights? HR is responsible for the human firewall.

Legal: Are regulatory requirements (GDPR, NIS2, critical infrastructure regulations, etc.) being met? Are contracts with service providers reviewed for data protection and security? The legal department must ensure compliance.

Operations: Are "Secure by Design" principles integrated into development and business processes? Are security requirements considered from the start?

Communications Department

In a crisis, fast, clear communication is decisive. The questions are:

• Does a crisis communications plan exist that also covers cyberattacks?
• Has this plan been tested and updated?
• Are responsibilities for internal and external communication clearly defined?
• Do we know when and how to inform customers, partners, and authorities?

Discipline, Preparation, and Resilience Instead of 100% Security

An uncomfortable truth: 100% security doesn't exist. Any system can be compromised if an attacker invests enough resources and time. The question isn't if but when an attack will occur.

What truly matters are three factors:

1. Discipline: Consistent implementation of security measures, even when inconvenient.
2. Preparation: Regular exercises, current plans, and trained employees.
3. Resilience: The ability to quickly recover and continue operations after an incident.

These three elements only work when every team member knows their position and responsibility.

Concrete Action Recommendations

For Leaders

Ask yourself the critical question: Is cyber risk still "an IT topic" in your organization, or have you elevated it to a board-level responsibility?

If you take cybersecurity seriously, you should:

• Introduce quarterly cyber risk reviews
• Allocate budget for security training for all employees
• Commission an external security audit
• Conduct tabletop exercises with all relevant stakeholders

For Teams and Departments

Every employee should be able to answer these two questions with "yes":

• Do I know my role in the company's security concept?
• Do I know by what metrics my contribution to security is measured?

If not, it's time for a conversation with the CISO or leadership.

Conclusion: Let's Make Cybersecurity a True Team Sport

Digitalization permeates all business areas, making cybersecurity a fundamental prerequisite for business success. An isolated IT security team cannot overcome this challenge alone.

The most successful companies are those that have integrated cybersecurity into their corporate culture, where every department knows and fulfills its responsibility, and where leadership leads by example.

The next cyberattack is certain to come. The question is: Will your team play together, or will everyone stand alone on the field?

Your Next Steps: Within the next two weeks, initiate a cross-functional meeting on cybersecurity. Invite representatives from all departments. Discuss roles, responsibilities, and existing gaps. Turn cybersecurity into what it should be: a shared mission for your entire organization.

There is no silver bullet, no perfect defense. But there is collective accountability, systematic preparation, and organizational resilience. When everyone on the team knows their position and executes their role, your organization becomes exponentially more secure.

Stop treating cybersecurity as an IT problem. Start treating it as the team sport it truly is. Your organization's resilience depends on it.