The CISO’s Transformation

Book excerpt: The first section of this book addresses the evolution of CISO (chief information security officer) leadership, with the most mature CISOs combining strong business and technical leadership skills. CISOs can now add significant value when they possess an advanced understanding of cutting-edge security technologies to address the risks from the nearly universal operational dependence of enterprises on the cloud, the Internet, hybrid networks, and third-party technologies demonstrated in this book. In our new cyber threat-saturated world, CISOs have begun to show their market value. Wall Street is more likely to reward companies with good cybersecurity track records with higher stock valuations. To ensure that security is always a foremost concern in business decisions, CISOs should have a seat on corporate boards, and CISOs should be involved from beginning to end in the process of adopting enterprise technologies. The second and third sections of this book focus on building strong security teams, and exercising prudence in cybersecurity. CISOs can foster cultures of respect through careful consideration of the biases inherent in the socio-linguistic frameworks shaping our workplace language and through the cultivation of cyber exceptionalism. CISOs should leave no stone unturned in seeking out people with unique abilities, skills, and experience, and encourage career planning and development, in order to build and retain a strong talent pool. The lessons of the breach of physical security at the US Capitol, the hack back trend, and CISO legal liability stemming from network and data breaches all reveal the importance of good judgment and the necessity of taking proactive stances on preventative measures. This book will target security and IT engineers, administrators and developers, CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, and CFOs. Risk personnel, CROs, IT, security auditors and security researchers will also find this book useful.