Muyideen Lawal, a seasoned Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) strategist with more than 15 years in IT audit, threat management and compliance leadership, warned today that organisations must stop treating cyber risk as an IT problem and start treating it as an existential business issue. In an interview, Lawal unveiled CTAT™, a proprietary Cybersecurity Threat Analysis Tool, designed to shift firms from reactive defence to measurable resilience.

“Cyber threats are now a board-level business risk,” Lawal said. “If organisations don’t focus on identifying and eliminating their highest-impact threats, they’ll lose data, customers, revenue and the ability to scale. CTAT™ gives leaders the visibility and roadmaps they need to act proactively.”

Lawal explained that CTAT™ combines a five-pillar assessment and operating model to connect security controls to business outcomes. More than a diagnostic, the platform functions as a threat-visibility engine, compliance tracker and resilience roadmap that organisations can run quarterly to reduce dwell time, increase detection accuracy and sustain operations under attack.

The five pillars, Threat Surface Visibility Index (TSVI), Attack Vector Readiness Score (AVRS), Incident Response & Recovery Quotient (IRRQ), Compliance & Governance Alignment (CGA), and Business Impact & Risk Resilience (BIRR), deliver executive-friendly scorecards, heatmaps and prioritized remediation plans. Quick wins include automated asset discovery, phishing simulation programs, IR playbook updates, and compliance automation. CTAT™ also quantifies Return on Investment by linking prevented losses to investments in controls.

Lawal pointed to the average breach now costs millions and regulatory fines and downtime can cripple organisations. “You can’t buy resilience with tools alone,” he said. “You need a model that operationalizes threat intelligence, ties risk to financial impact, and holds business units accountable.”

CTAT™ is positioned for cross-industry use, from finance and healthcare to government and manufacturing, and will be offered as a web app with tiered advisory services. Lawal says clients can expect baseline scoring in 4–6 weeks and targeted 90-day sprints to shore up high-priority gaps.

As cyber threats evolve, Lawal’s message is to focus on the threats that matter, eliminate them fast, and build cyber resilience as a strategic enabler of productivity and growth.

Chinwe Michael is a financial inclusion advocate and economy journalist who uses compelling storytelling to drive awareness. With a background in Banking and Finance and experience across accounting, media, and education, she applies sharp analysis and attention to detail to every piece. She simplifies complex financial and economy concepts into engaging content for Africa and global audience. Chinwe also doubles as a speaker with global recognition for her expertise.

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