Boards want cyber risk in dollars, not CVE counts

Help Net Security May 25, 2026 Share Boards want cyber risk in dollars, not CVE counts In this Help Net Security video, Ziv Levi, SVP of Technology at CYE, explains why translating cyber risk into dollars is one of the most pressing tasks for security leaders. Boards and executives want cyber exposure described in business terms, not technical jargon. Levi walks through a three-step financial translation framework. First, identify business exposure by mapping attack paths to the assets that matter most, such as intellectual property and customer data. Second, focus on exploitability instead of long vulnerability lists, asking what skill an attacker needs and what the business impact would be. Third, quantify potential damage in dollars using data from ransomware payouts, outages, fines, and breach settlements. Levi warns that AI is compressing the time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation from weeks to minutes. He argues that the companies winning in cybersecurity are the ones that understand their exposure, quantify it precisely, and decide faster than attackers. Download: The IT and security field guide to AI adoption More about boardroom CISO communication CVE cyber risk CYE strategy tips video Share