The legal requirements for Directors to oversee information systems are well known and the Caremark International derivative litigation case highlighted the potentially huge financial penalties of not doing so correctly.
Recent surveys indicate that Boards have been working hard to fulfill these responsibilities, but the speed and diversity of technological evolution has created an ever steeper learning curve. In addition, the advent of cyber related crime has changed the nature of the magnitude of risks faced by all types and sizes of organizations. In fact, it seems that a new "hacking" incident is reported daily in the newspapers and the reputation damage and associated correction costs can be huge.
This has prompted new governance standards and techniques that Boards need to understand and apply to their organizations. As well, Directors who are not information technology experts need to learn and stay current on developing trends to understand the issues and ask intelligent questions of management.
