Trying to balance a specific budget for any organization, business, or company is a difficult and stressing process. Being a chief information security officer and balancing a budget for cybersecurity is no exception; however, this challenge can be done with a strategic approach.

-Training
Just as with the majority of processes in life there always needs to be an accountability for human error. In cybersecurity human error is often associated as being a weakness whether it’s on purpose or not (Doyle, 2023). The weakness of human error can be mitigated through proper training, that is why I would invest in the crucial training of my employees (Doyle, 2023). To start I would ensure that my new employees would have the fundamentals, to do my funds would go to an academy that would teach the basics and necessary functions of our company’s cybersecurity needs and at the end of the academy there would be a test that would be necessary to pass in order to be a complete employee. After that I would use other funds to create workshops and awareness programs that would further build the skills needed for the employees.

-Technology
In addition to the human resources that the trained employees would provide I would need to invest in technology systems to act as potential safety nets and set layers into the security of the companies’ networks and systems (Doyle, 2023). Different automatic response tools, firewalls, and detection systems would be all considered in this part of the budget so that there would be another layer of defense and protocol in the event of a cyber stack (Doyle, 2023).

-Risk-Based Assessments
In order to ensure that I am using investments wisely I would also want to conduct assessments on both physical and technological aspects of the security to ensure that the areas that are appearing the weakest points are getting the attention that it needs (Doyle, 2023). Funding would be directed to the areas that are necessary weather that would call for more levels of training or more digital technology to create barriers (Doyle, 2023).

-Improvement
Similar to the assessments I would also want to leave funds for the improvement of the technology and training. No matter what technology will continue to advance and because of that company’s standers would also need to advance in order to mirror with the growing of technology. Additionally, I believe no matter how perfect a system may appear there is always going to be some level of improvements that can be made.

References
Doyle, J. (2023, July 12). Balancing Cybersecurity: Examining Factors, Tradeoffs, and Impact. Medium. Retrieved April 5, 2025, from https://medium.com/@jkdoyl1/balancing-cybersecurity examining factors-tradeoffs-and-impact-4dcda8add0df