Companies put cybersecurity experts on boards

The board of directors at construction and engineering company Parsons Corp. needed to fill a seat two years ago.

Naturally, they wanted someone with communication and leadership skills. They also needed someone new: an expert to help them battle computer hackers, cyberthieves, electronic spies, digital vandals and anybody else out to wreak havoc in a connected world.

The privately held firm’s latest board member is Suzanne Vautrinot, a retiredAir Force major general who helped create the Department of Defense’s U.S. Cyber Command and led the Air Force’s IT and online battle group.

Parsons, in Pasadena, is at the forefront of a fast-expanding trend in corporate governance: the elevation of cybersecurity experts to the boardroom, traditionally occupied by former CEOs and specialists in marketing and finance.

In the past few months, AIG, BlackBerry, CMS Energy, General Motors and Wells Fargo have added a board member with computer-security knowledge. Delta Air Lines and Ecolab did the same in recent years.

The reasons are clear. Cyberattacks on large companies skyrocketed 44 percent last year from 2013. Cybercrime costs businesses more than $400 billion a year, according to Lloyd’s of London.

Boards are responsible for advising CEOs on setting goals and making plans to achieve them, and to question the challenges standing in the way. Not adequately addressing a cybersecurity risk could prove costly — in money, reputation, legal bills, lost time and lost customers.

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