Secure Talk podcast | by Strike Graph

The ROI of Security Tested: What a new paper reveals about security value | Secure Talk with Minh Nguyen and Thi Tran

Written by Strike Graph Team | Apr 21, 2026 3:59:23 PM

Why do most cybersecurity investments feel impossible to justify? Because the measurement tools are broken — built on gut instinct, not research.

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Researchers Minh Nguyen (Florida Atlantic University) and Thi Tran (Binghamton University) set out to fix that. In this episode, they break down their landmark paper "Effects of Cybersecurity Readiness on Firm Performance: Evidence from Conference Calls" — the first study to systematically measure cybersecurity readiness at the firm level and link it directly to financial performance.

What they found will change how you think about security budgets:

→ Outsider mentions of cybersecurity in earnings calls are 100x more predictive of firm performance than insider mentions

→ Even a single co-occurrence of security-related language drives measurable returns on assets the following year

→ Companies that act proactively — not reactively — earn greater market trust

This is the episode for CISOs who need real data to justify investment, security leaders tired of folklore-based decision-making, and anyone curious about how AI, NLP, and causal inference are reshaping the business case for cybersecurity.

Topics covered: (add timestamps) 

Resources: 

🔗 Paper: "Effects of Cybersecurity Readiness on Firm Performance: Evidence from Conference Calls"

 

#Cybersecurity #CyberROI #CISO #FirmPerformance #CybersecurityResearch #NLP #CausalInference #InfoSec #SecurityLeadership #ConferenceCall``