FEATURE: SMART INVESTMENTS
behaves are operating in the dark. Without visibility, no tool will protect you. You’ re simply assuming you’ re secure – until you’ re not.
Visibility isn’ t a one-off audit or a monthly dashboard. It’ s real-time, continuous monitoring across every layer of your digital infrastructure. It’ s the ability to detect and respond the moment something abnormal appears – not hours later after systems are already encrypted.
Instead of betting on total prevention( which is now a fantasy), CIOs must adopt an‘ assume breach’ mindset. Build infrastructure that is self-aware, responsive and resilient when – not if – things go wrong.
The ransomware ban debate: a distraction from real leadership
There’ s growing political momentum to outlaw ransomware payments. On paper, it makes sense. Cut off the money, cut off the motive. But in the real world, this logic collapses. A law won’ t stop cybercrime. It will only turn victims into criminals.
Ask yourself this: when your enterprise is paralysed, your board is panicking, and your recovery plan has failed – will you choose to follow the law, or save the business?
Criminalising ransom payments doesn’ t eliminate the threat. It pushes it underground. It reduces transparency and forces CIOs to make impossible decisions in silence. What’ s needed isn’ t more regulation. It’ s more preparedness.
Every enterprise needs a living incident response plan
The best defence CIOs can build isn’ t a new product. It’ s a dynamic, scenario-driven incident response( IR) plan that evolves alongside the threats. That means:
• Knowing the full scope of your digital assets.
• Prioritising based on real-world risk.
• Understanding that not all accounts – or breaches – are equal.
A compromised user account is a problem. A compromised CFO or system admin account is a catastrophe. Your IR plan must reflect that complexity. And it must be tested, updated, and informed by every incident – large or small.
Static documents don’ t survive real attacks. Living plans do.
Where CIOs go from here
The era of tool-driven security is over. The modern CIO must lead with visibility and resilience, not blind spending. Innovation is essential – but not at the expense of foundational security maturity. Ransomware isn’ t going away. Neither is AI-fuelled cybercrime. The job of the CIO isn’ t to prevent every breach. It’ s to build systems that adapt, recover, and get stronger with every hit.
You can’ t buy your way to resilience. But you can architect for it. And that, more than any new dashboard, is what will define the next generation of secure, intelligent enterprises. p
40 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www. intelligentcio. com