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After a decade or more of exhortations from cybersecurity pundits that CISOs need to be more data-driven and speak in the language of business — namely through numbers and measurement — the metrics message is finally sinking in. Whether it is to justify spending, quantify risk, or generally keep the executive suite up on security doings, CISOs discussions are now awash in dashboards, charts, and key performance indicators. The only problem? A lot of the numbers security teams and their leadership uses are, well, not very useful.
In fact, many of the measurements made are vanity metrics, presented with little context, collected in volume with little analysis, and often instrumented to the wrong observables to truly communicate risk. The Edge recently asked security experts around the industry about their least favorite metrics — and boy did they have a lot to say. The following are 20 of the worst metrics in cybersecurity, as described by the people who live and breathe security every day.
(Image: maxxasatori via Adobe Stock)
After a decade or more of exhortations from cybersecurity pundits that CISOs need to be more data-driven and speak in the language of business — namely through numbers and measurement — the metrics message is finally sinking in. Whether it is to justify spending, quantify risk, or generally keep the executive suite up on security doings, CISOs discussions are now awash in dashboards, charts, and key performance indicators. The only problem? A lot of the numbers security teams and their leadership uses are, well, not very useful.
In fact, many of the measurements made are vanity metrics, presented with little context, collected in volume with little analysis, and often instrumented to the wrong observables to truly communicate risk. The Edge recently asked security experts around the industry about their least favorite metrics — and boy did they have a lot to say. The following are 20 of the worst metrics in cybersecurity, as described by the people who live and breathe security every day.
(Image: maxxasatori via Adobe Stock)
Ericka Chickowski specializes in coverage of information technology and business innovation. She has focused on information security for the better part of a decade and regularly writes about the security industry as a contributor to Dark Reading. View Full Bio
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