Insights

Cyber security strategy & roadmap: vision to execution

Adam Hodgkins

Date:

August 2025

key fact

An actionable cyber security strategy connects risk, resilience, and business goals—enabling organisations to adapt and thrive in a dynamic landscape.

Organisations know that they need a Cyber security strategy, but not all know how to build one that’s actionable, resilient, and aligned with business objectives.

In some organisations, the Cyber security strategy is a slide deck but what’s missing is the cohesive, long-term vision and roadmap that connects cyber capabilities to business outcomes, risk appetite, and the continually evolving threat landscape.

As Cyber risks increase in complexity – ransomware, compromised supply chains, and social engineering – having an adaptable strategy and roadmap has become even more important. This isn’t just the CISO’s concern, it’s a business concern. Getting this right can determine an organisation’s ability to compete and grow.

Building and evolving a strategic cyber security roadmap

1.  Start with the business, not the technology

A strong Cyber security strategy shouldn’t start with firewalls or frameworks – it should start with understanding the business:

  • What are the strategic goals over the next 3 to 5 years?
  • What are the most critical operations, dependencies, and assets?
  • What level of cyber risk is tolerable?

Answering these questions will enable security leaders to align their roadmap with business priorities and risk appetite. The strategy should describe why security matters to the organisation, and the roadmap should define how it will be delivered over time.

2.  Define clear strategic pillars

When alignment with business strategy has been established, 3 – 5 strategic pillars which will provide structure and focus. Examples include:

  • Risk management and governance: maturing how Cyber risk is measured, reported, and governed
  • Resilience and recovery: ensuring the business can recover from attacks and maintain critical operations
  • Security culture and awareness: making secure behaviours an organisational priority

3.  Prioritise initiatives using a risk-based approach

Cyber security budgets and resources are finite; a roadmap will help to prioritise investments based on:

  • Current risk exposure (from threat intelligence, assessments, audits)
  • Business impact of delay (e.g., critical system availability)
  • Regulatory obligations (e.g., NIS2, DORA)
  • Dependency mapping (some initiatives will need to be delivered before others)

It’s easy to get trapped into front-loading the roadmap with quick-wins or new technologies, but instead It’s often better to focus on sequencing initiatives based on the impact they’ll delivery to the business.

4.  Make it measurable and trackable

A strategy needs KPIs that are meaningful to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, these could include:

  • Reduction in time to detect / respond to incidents
  • Cyber resilience maturity level
  • Percentage of staff trained in phishing responses

Progress against the roadmap should be tracked regularly, utilise dashboards to visualise progress and help maintain momentum.

5.  Keep it current: refresh with purpose

Cyber security is dynamic. Threats, technologies, and business models change. Your strategy and roadmap must be a living document, refreshed when needed or after:

  • A major Cyber incident
  • A change in business direction
  • A new regulatory requirement
  • A significant shift in threat landscape

Build in a structured review cadence, including regular engagement with business stakeholders and feedback loops from incident response or audit findings.

6.  Pivot when necessary: agility beats rigidity

No strategy survives contact with the real world unchanged, there will be times when the roadmap must pivot, not adjust to scenarios like:

  • An urgent project needs to pause for incident recovery work
  • A threat actor may target a system previously categorised as low risk
  • A new CISO may arrive with a different vision or priority

Strategy agility isn’t weakness – it’s strength. The key is to pivot deliberately, based on risk, and to communicate clearly why decisions are changing.

7.  What it takes to deliver

Even a well-crafted strategy will fail without execution discipline. Successful delivery requires:

  • Governance – a Cyber steering committee or similar forum to oversee delivery and remove blockers
  • Resources – adequate budget, people, and vendor support to deliver at pace
  • Sponsorship – active executive support to break silos and drive adoption
  • Communication – translating the strategy into stories that resonate with different audiences

Cyber security it very much a team sport – make sure your strategy and roadmap bring everyone along for the journey.

Conclusion

A Cyber security strategy and roadmap isn’t just a compliance artefact – they’re catalysts for alignment, maturity, and resilience. They help organisations proactively shape their Cyber capabilities in line with where the business is going, not just where threats are coming from.

In an environment where change is constant and pressure is high, the ability to build, maintain, and adapt a strategic roadmap is a core leadership competency. The goal isn’t always perfection – it’s progress, guided by purpose and delivered with consistency.

If you would like to speak to Adam Hodgkins regarding this insight, send your enquiry to contact@masonadvisory.com

If you want to find out more about our services, click here.

Our services

View all