Companies led by female CEOs are significantly less likely to suffer from data breaches and cyberattacks than those led by men.
March 31, 2026
Original Paper
CEO Gender, Overconfidence, and Reported Data Security Breaches
SSRN · 6481301
The Takeaway
Analyzing decades of data, researchers found that gender is a significant predictor of cybersecurity; female leaders are more likely to proactively invest in IT risk management, while overconfident male CEOs tend to take more risks that leave their companies vulnerable to hackers.
From the abstract
We examine whether CEO gender, CEO overconfidence, and their interaction affect a firm's likelihood of reporting a data security breach (DSB). Theory suggests that relative to male CEOs, female CEOs are more likely to allocate resources to managing IT-related risks, while overconfident CEOs are inclined toward risk-taking. Consistent with these arguments, we predict and find that firms led by female CEOs are significantly less likely to report a DSB, whereas those led by overconfident CEOs are s