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Then many CISOs have to interact not
only with their internal teams on technical
matters, but also with the board of directors,
journalists, regulators, politicians, customers,
vendors, and partners on a wide variety of
business level issues.
The role of a CISO is certainly not for the
faint of heart, but the multifaceted demands
of the role are also why many find it so
attractive. Perhaps the best part of being
a CISO job is change. Every day there is
something different going on.
The business is developing new products and
services with new technologies, the attack
techniques the bad guys are employing
to hack them are advancing, and at any
moment the job might kick in to a higher
gear should an incident spring up expectedly.
If you’re not learning and teaching every day,
you and your team will quickly fall behind.
That’s simply the nature of Information
Security in general. The major drawback
is that a CISO’s contributions are always
difficult to quantify and justify in the ultimate
language of business – dollars and cents.
This is especially true when through skill
and hard work, you have everything under
control, nothing unexpected has happened,
and your value is questioned. There never
seems to be a ‘win’ condition; you’re only
noticed when failure strikes. If things do go
wrong, such as a breach, then you’re the
designated “chief scapegoat officer”. And
of course everyone around wants to tell
you how to do your job. There will always
be others trying to convince you of what’s
most important and how what your doing
isn’t enough.”
“Just buy this point solution.”
I’m not here for that. I’m here to share
some thoughts about ideas for how to
think about the role of a CISO, it’s place
of importance in the larger world, and
what personality traits make for the most
successful candidates. n
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