Since the creation of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) role, the job responsibilities of cybersecurity executives have shifted with the evolving threat landscape.
“The State of the CISO 2022” whitepaper from BARR Advisory chronicles the typical responsibilities of today’s CISO, who is not only responsible for protecting their organization from cyber threats, but also budgeting, risk management, and enabling business decisions by securing technology.
Risk management
According to the whitepaper, a successful CISO can assess and mitigate risk while understanding the effects of cyber risk on the rest of the business. Adapting to an organization’s risk appetite is a critical aspect of this — CISOs must mitigate risks related to vulnerability management, employee security awareness and external cyber threats.
Business enablement
Understanding industry trends, securing new technologies, assessing risk involved with mergers and acquisitions, and securing departments such as Human Resources (HR) can help further business goals and are all integral aspects of the CISO role.
Security operations
Directing cybersecurity operations is a critical responsibility of the CISO. The whitepaper outlined threat detection, threat prevention, and incident response and management as main aspects of CISO security operations management.
Selling cybersecurity
CISOs are the organization evangelists for cybersecurity — and not only in the C-suite. While boardroom advocacy is an important part of the CISO role, the whitepaper also emphasizes the importance of employee cybersecurity awareness and training.
For more information on CISO job responsibilities, click here.
