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Rivial’s Cybersecurity blog

The Savvy CISO

Cybersecurity management insights, tips, and trends for security leaders, CISOs, vCISOs, and MSSPs who want to work smarter, not harder.

5 min read

Is a Quantified Cyber Risk Number Defensible? The Inputs

The most common objection to cyber risk quantification does not come from boards. It comes from security leaders, and it goes like this: the number is only as good as the inputs, the inputs are guesses, so the dollar figure is just a guess wearing a...

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4 min read

What Should a Credit Union IT Risk Assessment Cost?

You have three proposals on your desk and the numbers are thousands of dollars apart for what each vendor calls the same thing: an IT risk...

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8 min read

How to Review a SOC 2 Report in Minutes, Not Hours

A security manager at a credit union told us recently that vendor security reviews are the bane of his existence. Another opened a call by saying a...

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Cyber Risk Appetite Statement

8 min read

How to Write a Cyber Risk Appetite Statement

For CISOs, IT risk leaders, compliance officers, and the board committees they report to, a cyber risk appetite statement is the document that...

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8 min read

Risk in Dollars, Not Colors: A Complete Guide to Board Reporting

A security officer at a credit union told me that in his entire time at the institution, they had never once talked about risk in numbers. Colors,...

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8 min read

Shadow AI: A Guide to Finding the AI Already Inside Your Institution

A security officer at a credit union described their AI inventory to us like this: they went through the exercise, came out the other side with only...

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8 min read

Every Vendor Has an AI Feature. Here's How to Assess It

A risk leader at a large financial institution said something on a call this year that we have heard some version of at almost every institution...

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Cybersecurity Risk Register

8 min read

How to Build a Cybersecurity Risk Register

For CISOs, IT risk leaders, compliance officers, and vCISOs, a cybersecurity risk register is the single source of truth that turns scattered...

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5 min read

Quantitative vs Qualitative Cyber Risk Assessment: What Is the Difference?

Quick answer: A qualitative cyber risk assessment rates risk with labels like high, medium, and low, often on a color-coded heat map. A quantitative...

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9 min read

How to Choose the Right vCISO: A Guide for Highly Regulated Organizations

Quick answer: Choose a vCISO who acts as a strategic security leader, not an operator. The right one owns risk, governance, board reporting, and the...

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