Executive Summary:
As a cybersecurity professional, if you’re looking to eventually reach the top of your profession and move into the role of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), this is your guide. In today’s threat landscape, the CISO role translates into extensive responsibility. CISOs have a large impact on an organization and CISOs must prove their worth. Running for the CISO role is not your best option.
If you’re planning to advance your cybersecurity career, be sure to get going. In this guide, discover information that will help you clearly define your path, generate the right kind of returns for your organization, and enable you to reach your full potential. Here’s what you need to know about the most sought-after and dynamic CISO role.
CISO role definition
The Chief Information Security Officer is a senior level executive and often a member of the C-suite. The CISO is responsible for developing and executing against an information security program that protects the organization’s people, processes and technologies.
Primary responsibility
The primary responsibility of the CISO is to move an organization’s cybersecurity agenda forward. Being the top leader in the cybersecurity space, the CISO needs to understand the organization’s existing cybersecurity challenges, emerging issues, what needs to be addressed, prioritizing initiatives, managing a strategic roadmap, how to develop cybersecurity policies that are compliant with both industry regulations and local laws, how to manage security communications Cyber, how to work with a cyber security team and how to participate in high level security conversations.
In the event of a cyber security incident, the CISO must work with his team to identify, analyze and assess risks. In addition, CISOs need to be able to analyze incident costs, review the overall impact of an incident, have appropriate incident response plans, provide sophisticated incident reporting and offer security messaging around an incident.
A proactive approach to threat management can easily be met by the CISO, resulting in leadership recognition and a more secure organization everywhere.
How to be a CISO
CISOs should have a proven track record of success. In building a strong reputation and showcasing your experience, aspiring CISOs may want to:
1. Focus on the element of education. Whether the education is formal or informal, most companies expect to see specific qualifications that indicate a person can carry out the responsibilities of a CISO. Some businesses expect that in addition to a bachelor’s degree, applicants will have postgraduate qualifications in cyber security, such as a Master of Cyber Science (MSCS).
2. Accumulating relevant technical experience. Before applying for CISO positions, potential job candidates need to demonstrate that they have the real experience to lead an organization to cybersecurity safety and success. The technical knowledge must be current and must be relevant to specific threats in a given industry. The latter is especially important for new CISOs. Most CISO positions require at least five years of cybersecurity work experience.
3. Acquire leadership experience. As is inherent in any senior level role, the CISO role is a leadership role. To that end, aspiring CISOs need to know how to build a strong cybersecurity team and how to effectively manage team members so that they provide the necessary components that contribute to an overall strategy. CISO positions tend to have management experience requirements. Some require 7-10 years of minimum money management.
4. Develop the presence of managers. In addition to management experience and abilities, CISOs should also have “management presence” or a certain gravitas (personality + self-confidence derived from behavior), a set of communication skills, personal presentation and the ability to act calmly in high pressure situations. There is no exact definition of managerial presence, but it is a sign of your leadership potential.
5. Increase skills. Aspiring CISOs can broaden their horizons and their leadership abilities by engaging in quality and internationally recognized training programs such as Check Point Mind CISO Academythat can prepare them to safely lead organizational transformation and enable innovation.
6. Establish a strategic vision. Businesses looking to hire a CISO want to see candidates who can lead them into the future. Aspiring CISOs should demonstrate an interest in personal growth and should demonstrate that they can support the growth and development of a talented, knowledge-hungry and driven team.
alternative ways
There is no single clear path that aspiring CISOs must follow. Instead, a series of cybersecurity credentials, an inquisitive mind, and a strong network of peers can help prepare people for the role.
Important skills to acquire
- Technical skills are a must. To know everything about network security, cloud security, identity access management, adoption and adaptation of infrastructures, along with tools and technologies that enable the preservation of corporate data privacy, integrity and computing availability.
- Security engineers looking to become CISOs often focus on problem hunting. CISOs need to not only be able to find problems, but identify problems and vulnerabilities that are not visible to those around them. Learning to ask the right kinds of questions and think about issues in unconventional ways takes time and practice.
- CISOs need to continually update their mental models when it comes to thinking about cybersecurity. The mental model required to implement on-premise cyber security is different from that required for the cloud. As an increasing number of automation-based and AI-based tools emerge, mental models will need to be adjusted again.
- Many aspiring CISOs sell their technical credentials to potential employers. It is important. However, just as important is the set of skills required to interface with the C suite and boards. This group requires a solution-focused approach, recognition of profit and loss, and an emphasis on leveraging cyber security as a business enabler (rather than a business cost-center). If you can find ways and demonstrate ways to increase revenue for your employer or potential employer, you will have clear added value.
Setting the stage for success
Too often, business leaders set CISOs up for failure by viewing cybersecurity as a zero-sum game. Their mentality is ‘there should never be one cyber attack that affects my organization’. With this mindset, in the event of an incident, the CISO will be considered unsuccessful. He or she may be fired.
The most strategic CISOs know they can set themselves up for success by working with executive-level stakeholders to create proposed benchmarks for success (eg preventing 98% of attacks) and realistic KPIs.
CISO vs. CIO
For a long time, organizations failed to see the need to hire a CISO when a CIO already existed. Organizations have asked why a generalist role, such as that of the chief information officer, cannot take care of cyber security.
However, as cyber threats have grown and breaches have become high-profile, greater accountability and security oversight have become necessary. A CIO may provide the overall IT plan for an organization, but the CISO is responsible for cybersecurity prevention and response. When CIOs and CISOs work together, businesses can operate with maximum efficiency and digital security.
similar roles
For computer security professionals, the role of CISO may seem like the ultimate role to pursue. However, there are similar roles that offer equal status, pay and levels of responsibility. For example, the role of Chief Data Officer (CDO) may be of interest to some, while the role of Business Information Security Officer (BISO) may be of interest to others.
For more insight into the role of the CISO, please see CyberTalk.org’s past coverage. Finally, sign up for the CyberTalk.org newsletter for executive-level interviews, analysis, reports and more every week. Sign up Here.
