As a business leader, there is nothing more reassuring than hearing your Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), technology team, or IT provider state, “Don’t worry, our cyber security is under control.” It is the answer you want to hear.
However, in our extensive experience, this statement is often one of the most significant red flags.
In the complex and ever-evolving world of cyber security, the belief that everything is “handled” can be a dangerous symptom of overconfidence. This is not necessarily due to incompetence; rather, it is a deeply human condition. It is a cognitive bias known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, and it might be the biggest unknown risk in your organisation.
What is the Dunning-Kruger Effect in Cyber Security?
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where individuals with limited or moderate knowledge in a specific area tend to overestimate their own competence.
In cyber security, this often surfaces in the “middle zone” of expertise. A team or manager may know enough to build and maintain systems, but not enough to realise the full, complex scope of what they do not know. They have enough knowledge to feel confident but lack the wider experience to see their own blind spots.
This confidence creates a false sense of security. The internal team genuinely believes the defences are adequate because they are not aware of the hundreds of advanced methods attackers are using—methods they have simply never encountered.
Why “Under Control” is a Red Flag
Cyber security is not a problem that can be “solved” and then forgotten. It is a continuous process of defence against a global, creative, and relentless advisory.
When a CISO, CTO, or Managed Service Provider (MSP) claims security is “under control” and there are “no gaps,” it should be challenged. This statement often implies:
- A Limited Perspective: An internal team’s experience is naturally limited to its own environment. They are defending against the attacks they know, not the thousands of evolving tactics they have never seen.
- A Static View: It suggests security is a finished project, not an ongoing battle. Attackers, however, are innovating daily.
- A Fear of Finding Gaps: Sometimes, this confidence is a deflection. The team may suspect there are problems but lack the resources, knowledge, or leadership support to find and fix them.
In reality, the only constant in cyber security is change. Acknowledging that gaps likely exist is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of a mature and realistic security culture.
The Solution: An Independent, External View
How do you counter a cognitive bias that, by its very nature, is invisible to those who have it?
You must introduce an external, independent, and objective perspective. This is the precise value of a regular cyber security audit or consulting engagement.
An external expert’s job is not to criticise the internal team. It is to challenge assumptions and apply a broad range of experience—gathered from hundreds of different audits and incident responses—to identify the gaps the internal team missed.
At Vertex, we have performed countless cyber audits for organisations of all sizes. We can say with confidence: we find critical or high-priority security gaps every single time.
This is not a failure of the internal teams; it is a simple reality of this complex field. If you have not had an external audit, there are unknown cyber security gaps in your organisation.
A Practical Process for Real Security
Relying on an internal assessment alone is a gamble. A more robust approach involves a continuous cycle of validation and improvement.
- Seek an External Audit: Commission an independent cyber security audit at least once every 12 months. This will provide an objective baseline of your true security posture.
- Embrace the Findings: A good audit will produce a list of gaps. If an auditor claims to have found nothing, that is its own red flag. A clear list of vulnerabilities is a powerful tool for improvement.
- Fund and Fix: Once the gaps are identified, leadership must provide the timeline, funding, and access to expertise (whether internal or external) required to resolve them.
- Repeat: Make this cycle of auditing, identifying, and remediating an annual part of your business operations.
Relying on an individual’s potentially overconfident assessment is to gamble with your entire organisation. The alternative is to trust a process of continuous, independent validation.
From Overconfidence to Real Resilience
If you have not had an external cyber security audit in the last 12 months, or if you have been told that “everything is under control,” it is time for a second opinion.
Contact the expert team at Vertex Cyber Security. We can provide the comprehensive, independent audit you need to uncover the unknown gaps and build a truly resilient defence, identifying vulnerabilities before the attackers do.