5 Simple Steps to a Proactive Information Security Program

If your Information Security Program feels more like you’re constantly putting out fires than preventing them, you’re not alone. Many community banks and credit unions find themselves in “reactive mode”, always one audit finding, exam comment, or vulnerability scan behind.

It’s not for lack of effort. Most institutions want to be proactive, they’re just strapped for time, staff, and resources. The good news? Shifting from reactive to proactive doesn’t require a massive overhaul. It starts with a few small, intentional steps that help you get ahead of the chaos.

Let’s walk through a few that make a real difference.

1. Start with Strategy, Not Spreadsheets

Reactive programs often revolve around checklists and deadlines. “Did we check the box?” becomes the guiding question. Proactive programs, on the other hand, start with a plan.

A simple Information Security Strategic Plan, even a one-pager, gives you direction. It connects your daily tasks (like patching or policy reviews) to long-term goals (like reducing risk or supporting new digital services).

When your team knows why they’re doing the work, not just what needs to get done, decisions become easier and more consistent.

Tie your IS strategy to your institution’s broader business goals. It’s a lot easier to get buy-in (and budget) when security is aligned with growth and compliance.

2. Treat Risk Management Like an Ongoing Conversation

In a reactive program, the risk assessment gets dusted off once a year and filed away until exam season. In a proactive program, risk is part of everyday decision-making.

That doesn’t mean you need a risk committee meeting every week. It means building a habit of asking simple questions:

• • What’s changing?
  • What’s the potential risk?
  • How are we managing it?

Adding a “risk lens” to regular meetings, like IT Steering, helps you catch issues before they become incidents. Over time, that awareness starts to spread beyond IT and into operations and management.

3. Fix Findings Before They Become Repeat Offenders

A classic sign of a reactive program? Seeing the same audit or exam comment show up year after year.

Proactive programs take a structured approach to findings. They track remediation progress, verify completion, and close the loop with management. That simple tracking step, even if it’s just a shared spreadsheet or ticketing log, prevents things from slipping through the cracks.

Better yet, tie findings into your risk register. It not only shows good governance, it helps prioritize fixes based on real risk, not just who’s shouting the loudest.

4. Turn Alerts Into Insights

There’s no shortage of noise, alerts, reports, scans, and logs. It’s easy to get buried reacting to every red flag that pops up.

Being proactive doesn’t mean chasing every alert faster, it means stepping back and looking at the patterns. Are the same vulnerabilities coming up month after month? Are the same users failing phishing tests? Are certain vendors always lagging behind?

Those trends are your roadmap. They tell you where to focus, what to automate, and where to invest training or process improvements.

5. Communicate Differently

Reactive programs send reports that say, “We fixed X.” Proactive programs tell stories that show progress and context.

Instead of “We patched 50 systems,” try “We reduced exposure time on critical vulnerabilities by 40% this quarter.”

Boards and executives don’t need every detail, they need the headline: What changed? Why does it matter? Are we getting better?

Framing your updates this way helps shift the culture from compliance-driven to strategy-driven.

Closing Thought

Moving from reactive to proactive isn’t about perfection; it’s about predictability. When you know what’s coming, when risks are discussed early, and when decisions are made with intention, everything runs smoothly, exams, audits, even those surprise vendor issues.

Start small. Write down your priorities. Track your findings. Ask risk questions early. Each step builds momentum, and before long, you’ll realize you’re not chasing fires anymore. You’re preventing them.

Next Step

If your institution is ready to take that next step but isn’t sure where to start, our team at Bedel Security can help you chart the course. We’ve walked this path with community banks and credit unions across the country. Contact us for more information!