Reframing Product Security | PolarStar Cybersecurity Group

Reframing Product Security as Business Risk

Why framing security as risk separates winners from losers in tech

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7 min

Executive Summary

Most product security programs fail because they are managed as technical hygiene instead of business risk. In SaaS companies, product security is operational risk: it directly affects revenue, customer trust, and the ability to scale.

By borrowing proven risk definitions and discipline from the financial industries, leaders can move security out of reactive queues and into executive decision-making. When security is framed as risk, it becomes a lever for prioritization and accountability, not just control enforcement.

For SaaS companies, product security risk fundamentally an operational risk.

In product security, risk isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the lens through which every security decision should be evaluated. Treating security as operational risk allows organizations to prioritize resources, make informed trade-offs, and protect both users and business outcomes.

Leaders who fail to view and communicate security through this lens often respond reactively, leaving their products and teams exposed.

Applying Financial Risk Principles to Product Security

How the Finance Industry informs a more rigorous approach to understanding and framing product security risk

When defining risk, we will primarily look to the financial industry. Due to its critical role in the economy, the intense scrutiny it faces has made risk management both essential and highly developed. Managing risk in finance has evolved into a professional discipline, complete with established practices, rigorous standards, and extensive studies and reviews.

Risk management is not just a function of the business, it’s central to the responsibilities of its leaders. For these reasons, the financial sector provides a compelling reference point for cybersecurity, where understanding, measuring and controlling risk is equally vital.

Reframing Product Security as Business Risk_Brief History of the Basel Accords.png

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is the primary global forum setting international banking standards [1]. It aims to enhance financial stability by improving bank supervision and risk management worldwide. It was established at the end of 1974 after a series of international bank failures, most notably the collapse of Bankhaus Herstatt in Germany [2].

What happened:

Banks were starting to conduct business globally
Bankhaus Herstatt had to suddenly shut down, leaving foreign banks holding unfinished payments or losing money
This global impact showed that a bank failure in one country could ripple internationally
Result: Central Banks realized common rules and better coordination was needed to prevent a single bank failure from creating chaos around the world

The Basel Accords (I, II, and III) are international banking regulatory agreements developed to ensure banks maintain adequate capital to absorb unexpected losses [3]. Although the capital requirements are irrelevant to us in product security, the guidance set by Basel II and III around risk definitions is. The trigger event for the creation of Basel II and III defined and refined the risk categories that must be reviewed and managed regularly.

Reframing Product Security as Business Risk_Key Risk Categories defined by the Basel Accor

We recognize that the definition of Operational Risk continues to evolve, due to its wide scope [4]. But the framework outlined by the Basel Accords serves as a great one to model off of, especially given that operational risk is present in all activities of an organization.

Reframing Product Security as Business Risk_Managing Product Security Risk - Key Areas & C

Product Security Risk is Operational Risk

In SaaS companies, product security risk is fundamentally an operational risk. Product engineering sits at the heart of any SaaS business: it delivers the service, drives customer trust, and underpins revenue. Any failure in the product – whether a security vulnerability, reliability issue, or misconfiguration – can and is assumed to directly impact operations. Unlike other risks that affect only a segment of the wider business, product security risk touches every aspect of the SaaS business model, making its management an essential operational discipline.

This is where product security risk management comes in.

It isn’t simply product security. We intentionally add “risk management” because the goal of product security is not to protect the product, but to manage the risks across the processes, people, systems, and external events that threaten the CIA Triad model (Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability).

If you’re not framing product security as risks, you're managing a scope that is too narrow to truly impact the business’ bottom line. As a result, the change that can be influenced is limited to the world of ticket jockeying.

References

[1] The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Bank for International Settlements. Available: https://www.bis.org/bcbs.

[2] Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, “History of the Basel Committee,” Bank for International Settlements. Available: https://www.bis.org/bcbs/history.htm

[3] Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, “Basel II: Revised international capital framework,” Bank for International Settlements. Available: https://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsca.htm