Leadership Guide to Cyber Risk Management Integration

This whitepaper outlines the integration of Security Operations Centres (SOC) and IT Service Management (ITSM) teams, addressing the friction that arises from their differing objectives and operational focuses. It describes how SOC aims to reduce cyber risk rapidly, while ITSM prioritizes service stability and predictable change. The document highlights the structural challenges that lead to misunderstandings and conflicts between these teams, emphasizing the need for a shared operational view of cyber risk. It presents the concept of 'Schrödinger’s Monkey' as a new operational mindset, suggesting that incidents should be treated as both cybersecurity and IT service risks. The paper advocates for the use of offensive cyber platforms to provide evidence-based exposure management, which can enhance collaboration and decision-making between SOC and ITSM teams. Furthermore, it proposes leadership actions to facilitate this integration, such as aligning priorities around evidence-based risk, establishing shared metrics, and embedding security findings into ITSM workflows.