Most major companies are coming under cyber attack on a daily basis. As such, the nature of the business world has changed forever since the digital age made it possible to access a company via multiple channels.

It’s not just stealing of money but data or other digital assets, often to hold companies to ransom, that defines the age we’re in. In this respect, cyber security needs to be seen not just as a purely technology issue, but a board level priority.

The finance director, running a department that has an understanding of what is happening across a group and often overseeing IT- needs to take a key role in the defence against cyber attacks.

How that can and should happen in public and private companies can take different forms, as we discuss in the lead article.

But the commonly understood fact is that the issue is so serious, the very survival of a company could be at stake.

The right level of defence against cyber attack needs to be put in place now, rather than later.