What is Cybersecurity Result-Driven Metric (RDM)

RDM is an indicator that measures an organization’s level of protection. An improvement in RDM indicates enhanced security, while a decline shows a reduction in protection. For example, security hardening and patching are directly tied to business outcomes because: (1) investing in these measures reduces the frequency of security threat events, minimizing disruptions to operations; (2) faster patching reduces the window of time during which vulnerabilities can be exploited, protecting the organization from attacks; (3) it helps ensure that the organization reaches its desired protection level, maintaining robust security and mitigating risks effectively.

Benefits of Adopting RDM in Your Organization

At Crowe, we have observed that many organizations struggle to measure the impact of their cybersecurity investment. Questions like “How much more should we invest to achieve adequate security?” often remain unanswered. We believe this challenge stems from a lack of clear visibility into the protection levels that these investments deliver, making it difficult to measure their effectiveness and justify additional spending.

The visibility provided by traditional metrics often focuses on the number of incidents or attacks and their impacts, which can be difficult to measure. In contrast, RDM links security efforts directly to protection levels and more tangible results. The table below highlights the key differences:

Table 1. RDM and Traditional Metrics Comparison

Measuring Cybersecurity Result-Driven Metric (RDM) offers two key advantages:

1. RDM allows organizations to prioritize investments where they matter most, ensuring alignment between business value and cybersecurity protection. This is crucial, as not every part of a business requires the same level of protection.

2. It helps leaders answer the question, "How much more security?" by adjusting cybersecurity spend based on measurable protection levels, thereby bridging the gap for more cost-effective cybersecurity management.

    

At Secuvity

Our Cybersecurity Result-Driven Metric (RDM) approach delivers better strategic alignment, leading to improved technology management, clearer prioritization, and more informed cybersecurity decisions. This approach aligns security investments and business outcomes, ensuring organizations can focus on the most impactful areas of their cybersecurity strategy.