Module 9: Cybersecurity for Executives - Threats, Defenses, and Your Responsibilities

What is the executive's actual job on cybersecurity, beyond approving the budget?

Cybersecurity has become a board-level topic, but the conversations in most boardrooms still default to red dashboards and vendor logos. This module gives executives the structured posture they need to govern security: what the threat landscape actually looks like, which controls move risk, how to read a security report, and what regulators and insurers now expect from a CEO and a board.

What you'll learn in this module

• The threat landscape segmented by adversary type (nation-state, organized crime, insider, hacktivist) and what each implies for defensive priorities
• The control families that matter (identity, endpoint, network, application, data) and where each sits in a real operating budget
• Incident response: tabletop exercises, breach communications, regulatory notification timelines, and the legal and reputational consequences of getting them wrong
• Cyber insurance: what it covers, what it does not, and how 2026 underwriting standards have raised the bar on the controls insurers expect
• The executive and board responsibilities under SEC cyber disclosure rules, DORA, NIS2, and sector-specific regimes

The complete module hands executives the language, the metrics, and the operating posture they need to govern cyber risk credibly rather than performatively.