Addressing Executive Clickbait in Cybersecurity

In cybersecurity, sensationalism often takes the front seat. Alarmist headlines like “Half of Employees Fell for a Phishing Scam” or “Company at Extreme Risk Following Cyber Simulation” capture attention but seldom provide the nuanced understanding executives need. This phenomenon, termed "Executive Clickbait," poses a challenge: it prioritizes emotional responses over actionable insights.

In this blog, we’ll unpack the pitfalls of Executive Clickbait, explore the critical components of a Security Behaviour and Culture Program (SBCP) , and highlight three actionable steps for assessing your program’s effectiveness.

What Is Executive Clickbait?

Executive Clickbait refers to the tendency to overemphasize alarming cybersecurity data to provoke a reaction. While these dramatic narratives may secure funding or attention, they risk distorting the true state of organizational security. For example:

• Inflated Metrics: Reporting a high phishing failure rate without contextualizing the testing conditions (e.g., targeting inexperienced interns).
• Selective Reporting: Highlighting outlier incidents while ignoring broader positive trends, such as improved employee response rates.

Such practices can undermine trust between cybersecurity teams and executive stakeholders, making it harder to foster a culture of informed decision-making.

The Risks of Sensationalism

While dramatic narratives might drive immediate action by capturing attention and sparking urgency, they also bring significant drawbacks that can undermine long-term credibility and decision-making within an organization:

• Erosion of Credibility: Repeated exaggeration diminishes the perceived reliability of cybersecurity teams.
• Misaligned Priorities: Resources may be directed towards perceived risks rather than actual vulnerabilities.
• Decision Paralysis: Executives overwhelmed by alarmist messaging may struggle to discern actionable steps.

Moving From Clickbait to Clarity

To effectively address the challenges posed by Executive Clickbait, cybersecurity leaders must prioritize fostering transparency and delivering meaningful communication that bridges the gap between data and actionable insights. Here’s how:

Outcome-Driven Metrics

Data without context is meaningless, as it fails to provide the necessary background for interpretation and decision-making. When presenting metrics, ensure they are:

• Balanced: Include both successes and areas for improvement.
• Relevant: Tie the data to specific business risks or objectives.
• Actionable: Highlight steps taken to mitigate risks and next steps for further improvement.

For example:

Instead of: “47% Failure Rate in Phishing Simulation!”

Try: “47% of interns clicked on a phishing link under simulated conditions. However, employees with access to sensitive data achieved a 95% success rate in identifying threats.”

In the above infographic, the importance of outcome-driven metrics is clearly illustrated. On the left side, we see an example of a metric presented without context: “47% Failure Rate in Phishing Simulation!” While this figure captures attention, it lacks actionable insights.

In contrast, the right side provides a contextualized breakdown: “47% of interns clicked on a phishing link under simulated conditions, while employees with access to sensitive data achieved a 95% success rate in identifying threats.”

This comparison highlights how outcomes-driven metrics not only offer deeper insights but also help organizations prioritize actions, such as focusing training efforts on high-risk groups like interns. By presenting balanced, relevant, and actionable data, organizations can make informed decisions to strengthen their cybersecurity posture.

Align Messaging With Business Goals

Executives care deeply about outcomes that have a tangible impact on the organization’s success and sustainability. When framing cybersecurity efforts, it’s essential to articulate their relevance to core business objectives in terms of:

• Cost Savings: Highlight reduced remediation costs or avoided incidents.
• Operational Resilience: Emphasize improved uptime or business continuity.
• Strategic Advantages: Showcase enhanced reputation and customer trust.

Use Protection-Level Agreements (PLAs)

Protection-Level Agreements (PLAs) are a structured approach to align cybersecurity objectives with business priorities, establishing clear expectations between cybersecurity teams and executives. These agreements serve as a bridge to translate technical performance into tangible outcomes that resonate with leadership:

• Define outcome-driven metrics, such as reducing phishing incidents by 30%.
• Tie cybersecurity performance to measurable business benefits, like a 40% reduction in remediation costs.

Learn more about structuring PLAs in our blog "What is the Protection Level Agreement in Security Awareness Training?" .

Tell a Balanced Story

Data becomes meaningful when paired with context and practical insights, helping organizations connect metrics to real-world outcomes. As shown in the infographic below, the Average Phishing Simulation Click Rate reveals a significant improvement from a 25% failure rate to the 5% target set by the Protection Level Agreement (PLA). This metric not only tracks the reduction in risky behaviors but also underscores the effectiveness of employee training initiatives.

To create a compelling narrative, leaders can highlight the steps taken to achieve these results, such as deploying phishing simulations and tailored awareness programs. Additionally, sharing employee feedback on how these initiatives improved their ability to recognize suspicious emails adds a human element to the data.

By showcasing trends over time, such as consistent progress toward reducing click rates, organizations can illustrate their commitment to building a security-conscious culture. By combining quantitative insights with qualitative narratives, cybersecurity leaders can illustrate not just what the numbers say, but also why they matter and how they align with the organization's goals. For instance:

• Highlight a phishing campaign’s impact alongside employee testimonials about improved training efficacy.
• Showcase trends over time to illustrate sustained progress

Recommendations for Cybersecurity Leaders

To foster trust and drive meaningful action, cybersecurity leaders must bridge the gap between data and decision-making by focusing on transparency, actionable insights, and aligning their strategies with broader organizational goals:

1. Avoid sensationalism. Be honest about both successes and challenges.
2. Engage executives early to understand their concerns and align messaging.
3. Focus on metrics that matter, such as behavior change and risk reduction.
4. Supplement data with stories that connect cybersecurity efforts to business value.

By moving beyond Executive Clickbait, cybersecurity leaders can build credibility, secure sustained support, and drive impactful change. In the end, it’s not the headlines that matter, but the real progress made towards a secure organizational culture.

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Further Reading

For a deeper understanding of security awareness training, human risk management, and related strategies, explore these resources:

• What is Human Risk Management? Understand how human risk management identifies and mitigates cybersecurity vulnerabilities within organizations.
• What is a Security Behavior and Culture Program (SBCP)? Learn about building a security-conscious culture through structured behavior programs.
• What Are the Metrics for Evaluating Security Awareness Efforts? Discover how to measure the impact of your training programs using actionable metrics.
• What is the Protection Level Agreement in Security Awareness Training? Dive into the concept of PLAs and their role in setting measurable security goals.
• Success Factors for Security Behavior and Culture Program Evaluation Learn how to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your SBCPs.