Georgia-Pacific LLC

Threat management is the Hydra to our technical teams. It seems like no matter how many resources we throw at the problem or how many vulnerabilities we close, there is an ever-growing pile left to address. What if I told you that this isn’t a problem of volume, but rather a problem of perspective?

It’s easy to look at a growing pile of vulnerabilities and fall into the tyranny of the urgent, chasing metrics on a scorecard instead of driving meaningful risk reduction. I’m suggesting that we reframe threat management as a business problem. Our industry doesn’t exist to chase vulnerabilities or deploy technology for its own sake, but to enable business outcomes and allow the business to move faster with confidence.

Threat management, at its core, is not about eliminating threats. It is about enabling informed risk-taking. Treated as a purely technical exercise, it overwhelms teams. Treated as a business capability, it creates clarity, prioritization and confidence.

I got into cybersecurity for the same reasons many of you probably did. I was a young technologist with a knack for troubleshooting who enjoyed working with technology. Success meant solving problems, closing tickets and fixing issues. Leadership exposed me to how the components of an organization come together into something greater than the sum of their parts. Working across different parts of the organization has shown me that business context isn’t just a consideration. It’s the only thing that matters.

If businesses didn’t find value in cybersecurity, they wouldn’t pay for it. Yet many struggle to define what that value actually is. Often, business leaders have seen something alarming in the news and simply want reassurance that they won’t be the next headline. I once had a CEO tell me that, from his perspective, my job was to keep him off the news and out of handcuffs.

While that’s an extreme illustration, cybersecurity is a technically complex space and it’s difficult to make effective decisions about things you don’t fully understand. Ultimately, cybersecurity is a business risk capability with a technical component, not the other way around. Business capabilities exist to enable outcomes, increase agility and support better decision-making under uncertainty.

"Threat management, at its core, is not about eliminating threats. It is about enabling informed risk-taking."

Traditional threat management often fixates on volume, the number of vulnerabilities, alerts, or critical findings closed, rather than whether the most important risks were addressed. This can feel productive, but it rarely answers the business’s real question. Are we focused on the risks that actually matter? Leaders are generally comfortable managing risks related to talent, supply chains, or legal exposure because those risks are easier to visualize and discuss. Cyber risk often feels different, not because it matters more, but because its technical complexity obscures its business impact. Threat management is the discipline that translates that complexity into business-relevant decisions.

All race cars have brakes, not to slow them down, but to allow them to go faster with control. Brakes exist to manage the unexpected and allow the driver to enter a corner with confidence and avoid the wall. Cybersecurity is the braking system that allows the business to push harder without losing control. Just as we wouldn’t slam on the brakes on a clear, open straightaway, cybersecurity shouldn’t slow the business down without a clear reason tied to keeping it on track. It isn’t about being more secure. It’s about being more resilient, reliable and confident

Effective threat management starts with understanding what the business is trying to accomplish and what could disrupt those objectives. Where are those risks most likely to materialize? What would the impact be if they did? And how do we manage through them while preserving momentum? Adding business context is the only way to meaningfully address the ever-growing vulnerability pile. If threat management doesn’t start with business outcomes, it will always feel overwhelming.

I once had an operations leader tell me, “You guys are controlling the brakes on the car. If we’re about to run off a cliff, I need you to slam on the brakes, but we can’t slam them for every squirrel that runs across the road.” What he meant was simple. Threat management requires understanding business context. Know which assets are truly mission-critical. Understand which systems the business could operate without and for how long. These conversations turn abstract cyber risk into concrete business tradeoffs.

Play out realistic failure scenarios and their potential impact with business leaders. Don’t try to scare them. Be honest and practical about the implications of risk decisions. This is how trust is built. This is how cybersecurity earns a seat at the table. Through engagement, we demystify cyber risk and help leaders understand how we enable their goals, not just protect against threats.

The Hydra will never be defeated. But when threat management is treated as a business capability, leaders trade reaction for intention. In doing so, security becomes a force that enables progress, not one that slows it. This shift matters most for organizations that want to move fast without losing control.