Fortinet Cybersecurity Podcast · Fortinet Cybersecurity Podcast

Brass Tacks S1E02 - How Cyber Risk Has Evolved Into Business Risk

·22 min

Joe Robertson frames the episode around the warning that if you design first and secure later, you are already too late. Brass Tacks is positioned as a cybersecurity show about business impact, aimed at executives and board members. Alain Sanchez joins as EMEA Chief Information Security Officer at Fortinet. The conversation starts with the older idea that cybersecurity was mostly antivirus and IT cleanup, then shifts to the current reality of board-level exposure. Robertson asks what a CISO should do for directors. Sanchez answers by focusing on where the value chain is exposed, where the crown jewels are, and which systems hold proprietary information and customer data. He treats the CISO as a translator between technical and business language. The role is not only technical. It is also organizational, diplomatic, and legally demanding. Sanchez describes a spectrum in which some companies still see cybersecurity as a necessary evil, while others treat it as a business enabler. The discussion also notes firms that were attacked for years without realizing what had been exposed. It points to companies that only woke up after paying major regulatory costs. Sanchez stresses that the board needs regular attention to security, not occasional reassurance. The Formula One comparison makes the point concrete. Speed matters, but so does braking. In the same way, a strong security posture helps a company move fast without losing control. The episode keeps translating abstractions into practical terms for leaders who are not security specialists. The closing argument is simple: security has to be part of how a company designs and changes its business. The result is a compact executive briefing on why cyber risk belongs in ordinary business planning.

As heard by us

Cybersecurity is framed as business risk for executives and boards.

Brass Tacks keeps cyber risk where it belongs: in the boardroom. Joe Robertson makes the case in business terms, aimed at executives and board members, and Alain Sanchez gives the CISO role a practical shape by stressing the need to translate between business needs and security…

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Why you'd press play

You want cyber risk translated into business language for boards and executives.

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