Implementing Meaningful Information Security Metrics | A Conversation with Allie Mellen and Jeff Pollard | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin

In this new episode of Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin, Allie Mellen, and Jeff Pollard engage in an in-depth conversation exploring security metrics' critical role and power in the infoSec decision-making processes. Throughout the dialogue, listeners can gain an understanding of the importance of implementing relevant metrics, such as Mean Time To Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time To Respond (MTTR), for tracking growth within cybersecurity contexts. However, there’s much more to metrics than just these two figures.

Both Allie and Jeff emphasize that metrics should be perceived not merely as numerical values but as valuable guideposts aiding decision-making. This perspective, attributed to the Lean Startup philosophy by Eric Ries, encourages using metrics to guide future actions, understand current decisions, or evaluate past outcomes. They stress that metrics should have a genuine purpose and contribute meaningfully rather than just providing quantitative data.

Furthermore, the conversation underscores the relevance of metrics to the decision-making audience. Allie and Jeff agree that metrics should differentiate between what matters only to your team and what's necessary for strategic decisions in the broader organization. They become truly impactful by ensuring metrics support decision-making and reach the right audience, whether it's senior leadership, the security program, or the tactical metric practitioners.

Storytelling's role is highlighted as vital in presenting these metrics to various stakeholders, making the data more meaningful, understandable, and actionable. The conversation extends the notion of metrics, applying concepts like readmission rates, commonly used in healthcare, to measure incident recurrence in cybersecurity.

The trio also spotlights the need for a synergistic relationship between the Security Operations Center (SOC) and Vulnerability Risk Management (VRM). Such a relationship fosters improved security posture through effective incident management and prevention, with Allie reasoning that translating data into something meaningful for other business units is crucial.

Touching upon individual metrics in the context of career progression, both Allie and Jeff emphasize the necessity for individuals to define their career-oriented metrics based on their personal goals and organizational expectations. This understanding can help leaders prove their program's success and influence others.

The conversation ultimately underscores the importance of the right data sources for calculating meaningful metrics. Without the correct data, generating truly impactful and actionable metrics becomes impossible. Jeff cites an example of a financial organization that used a unique metric to measure insider risk, emphasizing the complexities and challenges of deriving meaningful and actionable cybersecurity metrics.

There’s a lot to unpack in this conversation. Listen to the entire episode so you don’t miss a beat.

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Resources

The Lean Startup: https://theleanstartup.com/

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