ASIC survey to look at organisations’ resilience to cyber attacks

Governance Institute’s new GovBuzz podcast series provides the most up-to-date insights into governance and risk management leadership from leading industry professionals. The series, Individual and Collective Leadership Driving Performance, includes highlights from a number of key sessions from our recent Governance and Risk Management Forum in Sydney.

The podcasts are an excellent way for our members and extended audiences to hear from industry leaders on key issues facing businesses.

In the first podcast, titled Cybersecurity – what we did next, we hear from Eden Winokur, Head of Cyber at Hall, and Wilcox and Christoph Strizik, Chief Information Security Officer for Origin Energy, as they discuss practical strategies for quickly assessing the impact of cybersecurity incidents.

Throughout the podcast, both panellists speak of the importance of cybersecurity governance to businesses and organisations and emphasise the need for planning.

Eden Winokur said, ‘We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but we do need to incorporate cyber risk and we do need to turn our mind to how cyber is unique in that space and make sure it fits within the plan.’

‘You can’t do it to zero, but you can take steps to mitigate your risk. You can put in place processes and documentation that mitigates your risk.’

Chistroph Strizik provided an insight into the reality of the problem with the sobering statistic that ‘there are 250 cybercrime groups out there.’

‘You can make a case that about 10% of those will have a strong interest in your company based on what you do as a business.’

The KordaMentha sponsored session offered a wake-up call to all attendees to look at their own organisations and see where they can improve when it comes to their own cybersecurity.

To find out more, visit our Good Governance Guide – Cybersecurity resource on our website

The second episode focused on The State of Risk. This episode featured a panel including Lee Sullivan, Chief Risk Officer at Minter Ellison, Phil Grindley _^FGIA, Head of Risk at Wesley Mission and Harry Godber, Head of Strategy and General Counsel at Flare & Non-executive Director, FinTech Australia.

The trio discuss converging economic and geo-political pressures, population growth and the challenges of rising inequality. Throughout the session, the panellists answered the audience’s burning questions and offered us an understanding as to how they implement leadership when it comes to risk.

Lee addressed a question about how to overcome the issue of what is known as the ‘Rogue Partner’ (which, as the name suggests, is an organisational partner that operates in their own self-interests). He said the way to prevent this comes down to ‘culture.’

‘Culture is a huge thing. Getting the culture right from the top, getting a clear direction should help keep a consolidated perspective moving forward.’

Harry Godber provided audiences with a helpful understanding of the current risks for businesses when it comes to the labour market, describing post-COVID labour markets as ‘stickier than they’ve been for a very long time.’

‘The majority of CEOs are saying that recruitment and workforce planning is one of the largest risks that they see for their businesses over the next two or three years.’

Governance Institute of Australia has some helpful resources around risk management. View our Good Governance Guide — Risk management overview on our website.

The third episode featured a discussion titled How Organisational Leadership Delivers ESG Vision. The panel, sponsored and chaired by LexisNexis, saw Robyn Parkin, Head of Sustainability at Ethical Partners Funds Management and Tracey Dodd, researcher at the University of Adelaide and founder and CEO of the advisory firm Sustainable Innovation, discuss building a strategy with full board & executive buy-in & how organisation-wide ownership drives its proper implementation.

‘One crucial aspect to ESG is that of stewardship’, says Dr Dodd, who defines stewardship as the willingness and action of an individual or an entity to take accountability for an act in the long-term interest of a business.

The need to include staff in long-term goals to achieve ESG targets was also reiterated by Robyn Parkin who emphasised the need to bring staff along the journey.

‘It is not about a checkbox. It’s about actually fundamentally changing the way you think about your business and not being tokenistic.’

‘The staff can 100% tell if you’re tokenistic and it’s not an added-on externality or siloed.’

Dr Dodd suggests that organisations should have indicators for measuring stewardship and suggests that employee motivation resides somewhere between self-maximising & attaining money and caring about the purpose (stewardship theory).

‘We are a very diverse world, and some people are going to be motivated by different things.’

Governance Institute has a number of resources to help you develop a better understanding of responsibilities when it comes to governance around ESG and stewardship. You can find our Good Governance Guide — Stewardship on our website.