Are your cyber metrics giving you a false sense of security?
Guest blog by Elizabeth Huthman, Director – CRQ Advisory at KPMG CRI
Is your organisation primarily using a traffic light system (red, amber, green) to manage cyber risk? You could be overlooking a crucial dimension of risk management.
While these traffic light systems provide a snapshot, they can convey a false sense of security that doesn't fully reflect the evolving digital threat landscape. With sophisticated attackers constantly looking for vulnerabilities to exploit, relying solely on qualitative assessments can leave organisations exposed. The UK Governments Cyber Security and Resilience Bill highlights that a more robust approach is becoming not just advisable, but essential, to avoid significant potential liabilities.
The era of qualitative cyber risk assessments, where gut feelings and vague risk matrices often guided decisions, is evolving. It’s time for a deeper look.
The legislative shift: The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
The UK's Cyber Security and Resilience Bill marks a significant legislative shift towards greater accountability in cyber risk. It mandates enhanced obligations for critical national infrastructure and other designated entities, demanding robust cyber resilience beyond just compliance. Organisations must demonstrate a clear understanding of their cyber risks, implement reasonable and proportionate mitigation measures, and prove effective recovery capabilities.
Defining what "reasonable and proportionate" means, requires understanding the financial impact of risks and the cost-benefit of controls. The Bill encourages a mature approach, expecting boards to grasp their financial exposure to cyber threats and make informed investment decisions.
Are your metrics telling the full story?
Imagine a CFO presenting financial results without numbers, relying only on general statements. This would not go down well for financial reporting. Yet, cyber risk often relies on qualitative terms like "high impact" – failing to translate the impact into the financial language business leaders understand. This disconnect can hinder the ability to have informed decision-making, leading to cyber security being perceived as a cost centre rather than a quantifiable business risk.
Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) offers a solution. It isn't about perfect prediction; it's about applying financial modelling to cyber scenarios, asking: "If X happens, what is the likely financial loss?" Instead of vague terms, CRQ provides tangible insights, such as "a 10% chance of a £1 million loss within 12 months due to a ransomware attack." This makes cyber risk comparable to other business risks, enabling strategic management and actionable decisions.
What happens when you quantify?
Embracing CRQ can be a transformative process. It often brings to light important insights: perhaps that your actual financial exposure is more significant than previously estimated, or that current security investments could be better aligned with your most critical risks. This can lead to key discussions about risk appetite, insurance strategies, and optimal budget allocation.
It is through this deeper understanding that true resilience is built. By quantifying risk, cyber security evolves from being solely a technical concern to a strategic business imperative.
4 steps to quantified resilience
With the impending Bill and an increasingly sophisticated digital threat landscape, a new level of preparedness is required. Here’s how to start the shift towards more informed cyber risk management:
- Empower your cyber leaders to quantify cyber risk: Encourage them to articulate risk in financial terms. Consider starting with your top 3-5 key cyber risks to understand the potential financial impact of breaches and return on investment from initiatives being implemented.
- Align with the Bill's intentions: Aim for more than minimum compliance by using the Bill to drive genuine, demonstrable resilience; by understanding your critical assets, their dependencies, and the financial consequences of their compromise.
- Stress test your resilience: Develop robust incident response plans and simulate major breaches to quantify their financial impact. Understand your recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) in monetary terms.
- Integrate Cyber into Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): Elevate cyber risk from an IT concern to a core component of ERM. Ensure it is discussed alongside financial, operational, and strategic risks, all quantified in comparable terms.
The future of cyber security isn't about avoiding all risk; it's about understanding, quantifying, and strategically managing it. Ensure your organisation is well-prepared when the new Bill brings increased scrutiny to cyber resilience. Equipping your cyber defences with financially sound insights is a strategic move for today and tomorrow.
Click here to find out more about our one-stop CRQ solution, CRI.
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Meet the team
Jill Broom
Head of Cyber Resilience, techUK
Jill leads the techUK Cyber Resilience programme, having originally joined techUK in October 2020 as a Programme Manager for the Cyber and Central Government programmes. She is responsible for managing techUK's work across the cyber security ecosystem, bringing industry together with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors. Jill also provides the industry secretariat for the Cyber Growth Partnership, the industry and government conduit for supporting the growth of the sector. A key focus of her work is to strengthen the public–private partnership across cyber to support further development of UK cyber security and resilience policy.
Before joining techUK, Jill worked as a Senior Caseworker for an MP, advocating for local communities, businesses and individuals, so she is particularly committed to techUK’s vision of harnessing the power of technology to improve people’s lives. Jill is also an experienced editorial professional and has delivered copyediting and writing services for public-body and SME clients as well as publishers.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Website:
- www.techuk.org/
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-broom-19aa824
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Annie Collings
Programme Manager, Cyber Resilience, techUK
Annie is the Programme Manager for Cyber Resilience at techUK. She first joined as the Programme Manager for Cyber Security and Central Government in September 2023.
In her role, Annie supports the Cyber Security SME Forum, engaging regularly with key government and industry stakeholders to advance the growth and development of SMEs in the cyber sector. Annie also coordinates events, engages with policy makers and represents techUK at a number of cyber security events.
Before joining techUK, Annie was an Account Manager at a specialist healthcare agency, where she provided public affairs support to a wide range of medical technology clients. She also gained experience as an intern in both an MP’s constituency office and with the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed. Annie holds a degree in International Relations from Nottingham Trent University.
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- [email protected]
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- anniecollings24
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- https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-collings-270150158/
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Olivia Staples
Junior Programme Manager - Cyber Resilience, techUK
Olivia Staples joined techUK in May 2025 as a Junior Programme Manager in the Cyber Resilience team.
She supports the programs mission to promote cyber resilience by engaging key commercial and government stakeholders to shape the cyber resilience policy towards increased security and industry growth. Olivia assists in member engagement, event facilitation and communications support.
Before joining techUK, Olivia gained experience in research, advocacy, and strategic communications across several international organisations. At the Munich Security Conference, she supported stakeholder engagement and contributed to strategic communications. She also worked closely with local and national government stakeholders in Spain and Italy, where she was involved in policy monitoring and advocacy for both public and private sector clients.
Olivia holds an MSc in Political Science (Comparative Politics and Conflict Studies) from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies from University College London (UCL).
Outside of tech, Olivia enjoys volunteering with local charities and learning Norwegian.
- Email:
- [email protected]
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Francesca Richiusa
Programme Team Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK
Fran serves as the Programme Team Assistant within techUK’s Public Sector Market Programmes, where she is responsible for delivering comprehensive team support, managing administrative functions, and fostering strong relationships with members.
Prior to joining techUK in May 2025, Fran built a meaningful career in the charitable and local government sectors. She worked extensively with both victims and perpetrators of crime, and notably led the coordination of Domestic Homicide Reviews across Surrey—an initiative aimed at identifying lessons and preventing future incidents of domestic abuse.
Outside of work, Fran is an avid traveller and a proud cat mum who enjoys unwinding with her feline companions.
- Email:
- [email protected]
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- www.techuk.org/
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-richiusa/
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Authors
Elizabeth Huthman
Director – CRQ Advisory, KPMG CRI
