What do you do if your relationships with key stakeholders in Information Security are weakening?

Establish continuous feedback mechanisms to foster transparent communication and address issues promptly. Implement regular check-ins, surveys, or feedback sessions to gather insights from stakeholders about their experiences and expectations.

Factors to asses include: 1. Misaligned Goals: Do the stakeholders have objectives that conflict with your security measures? Are you seen as impeding rather than enabling business processes? 2. Poor Communication: Are you providing information in ways the stakeholders understand? Do they feel excluded from decisions? 3. Lack of Security Understanding: Do they undervalue security risks or see them as unlikely to occur? 4. Negative Past Experiences: Have prior security incidents damaged their trust in your team or solutions? 5. Competing Priorities: Are resources overstretched, making security a lower concern? 6. Changes in Organizational Landscape: Have there been mergers, acquisitions, or leadership changes that are causing friction?

O engajamento das partes interessadas(stakeholders) é extremamente importante para o sucesso de um programa de Segurança da Informação e a comunicação é certamente um dos grandes desafios. Para manter todos engajados em fazer as coisas funcionarem é preciso que todos tenham ciência da importância do tema e das consequências que os envolvidos podem ter caso uma falha na segurança da informação aconteça. A partir do momento que todos os envolvidos percebem que uma falha de segurança da informação significa perda financeira para as corporações, a integração e o trabalho em conjunto tornam-se mais fortes e efetivos.

If relationships with key stakeholders in Information Security are weakening, it's crucial to proactively address concerns. Start by identifying underlying issues through open communication and active listening. Rebuild trust by demonstrating commitment to security goals, fostering transparency, and seeking collaborative solutions. Regularly engage stakeholders to understand evolving needs and align strategies accordingly. Ultimately, prioritize mutual respect and clear communication to strengthen partnerships and safeguard organizational security.

First thing—I'm saying it as it is. If you can't build trusted relationships with your stakeholders, forget about achieving any strategic initiatives. The majority, if not all, of security initiatives will require collaboration from other leaders. If there's no relationship, there is no getting things done. So it's paramount to ensure you build trusted, authentic, and value-added relationships.

Encourage open dialogue and collaboration between internal teams, external partners, and industry peers to enhance threat awareness and resilience. By fostering a culture of collaboration and information sharing, you can leverage collective expertise and resources to address emerging threats and vulnerabilities more effectively.

Lead by example, participate in security training sessions, and communicate the importance of security to employees and stakeholders. By demonstrating a commitment to security from the top down, you can instill a culture of security consciousness throughout the organization.

First investigate what is damaging the trust and look into why it happening. Then start a honest and transparent conversation with stakeholders and get them involve.

A common mistake I see teams make is not engaging with Information Security early enough. Security is a responsibility shared by everyone and should never be an afterthought. Friction typically occurs when Information Security is brought into a project late, discovers issues, and then necessary remediation threatens the release timeline. As I've stated, involving Information Security early can alleviate this friction. Additionally, setting up code/security assessment tools early in the process can help prevent such issues from arising.