How to Manage Changing CISO Responsibilities

Are you a CISO putting out fires or preventing them? If you're stuck suppressing incidents instead of aligning security with business priorities, you're not moving the organization forward – you're just reacting. CEOs and CIOs expect you to focus on proactive strategies that align security with business goals. Don't let incident response define your entire role. Security isn’t just about solving problems; it’s about enabling progress. Are you leading or just reacting? Do these instead: Prioritize risks that could impact critical systems and revenue generating operations. refer to NIST CSF. Adopt identity based access controls for secure remote work using Zero Trust. Integrate security tools into DevOps for faster, secure deployments (e.g., Snyk). Use tools like CrowdStrike XDR for real-time threat detection and response. Conduct tabletop exercises to align incident response with operational priorities. Quantify risks in financial terms to show ROI (e.g., downtime savings). Use the FAIR framework. Report security metrics in business terms. You can tell your board something like "We prevented $500K in fraud losses." Run real-world phishing simulations to reduce human risk (e.g., KnowBe4). Streamline security log ingestion and use tools like Cribl to filter or mask PHI, credit card information, and SSNs, enabling a focus on critical threats. #KayVon #CISO #CIO #cybersecurityvoice #KayVonCyber

It is second Monday, and let's talk about some #unpopularopinion: #AI isn't going to replace your #CISO. Everyone’s panicking about AI replacing cybersecurity roles. Vendors hype it as a “CISO killer.” Let me be absolutely, "A Few Good Men" crystal clear...AI won’t fire you. Your board will: if you can’t translate cyber risk into business language. Let's get into it! AI can automate triage, write policies, and even detect anomalies. In fact, it will probably do it faster than you and, in some cases, much better than you. What AI isn't going to be able to do is explain to a CFO why ransomware is a liquidity risk. Walk the board through how one breach cascades into lawsuits and customer churn. Translate the latest batch of “critical CVEs” into “critical revenue impact” for our organization. The CISO is the technical translator. They should be well-versed not just in the bits and bytes, but in the dollars and cents and how to convert one into the other. So if AI isn't the real threat, what is? That is a good question. CISOs get fired, not for failing the penetration test, but for failing the board test. They show things like patch count instead of financial exposure. They discuss MITRE TTPs rather than brand damage. They hype the technical win instead of actual business resilience outcomes. Your board doesn't want a SOC brief; they want clarity on risk, trust, and recovery. So let's talk about what the board really wants. They want a leader who can translate the completely foreign language of cyber into business risk. They want someone who can tell the story of how their organization will respond to stress (aka a cyber event). Most of all, someone who can build and protect trust between customers, regulators, and shareholders. If you miss that, your replacement won't be an algorithm; it will be a leader who speaks boardroom and business. The future of a CISO isn't the one with the most letters behind their name or who talks in techno acronyms. AI...will...eat all of that noise. It will be the person who can answer these three simple questions without cyber jargon and in business terms. - What is our true exposure? - How fast can we recover? - How much trust will we lose? - What risks have we accepted, and who owns that decision? If you cannot answer those, AI won't replace you; your board will. BL: It isn't a battle of CISO vs AI, it is a battle of CISO vs irrelevance. The scoreboard isn't vulnerabilities or compliance; it's trust. And trust is deeply human. #unpopularopinionguy

CISOs: Stop Explaining Security—Start Driving Decisions One of the biggest mistakes security leaders make is thinking their job is to educate executives about cybersecurity. It’s not. Executives don’t need a lesson on threat actors, frameworks, or vulnerabilities. They need to know how security impacts the business—and what decisions they need to make. Here’s where CISOs lose the room: ❌ Overloading with technical details – “We detected lateral movement using C2 frameworks across multiple subnets.” (So what?) ❌ Throwing out generic best practices – “We should adopt Zero Trust.” (Why? What problem does this solve for this company?) ❌ Presenting risks without context – “We have a high-risk exposure.” (What does that mean in terms of revenue, operations, or reputation?) Executives don’t care about security metrics—they care about business impact. Here’s what actually works: ✔️ Tie security to business risk – “This issue could cause $X in downtime or regulatory fines.” ✔️ Present decision-ready insights – “We have three options: mitigate, transfer, or accept. Here’s the trade-off.” ✔️ Prioritize based on business impact – “These are the security risks that directly affect our ability to operate.” CISOs who master this shift don’t just get budget approval—they gain influence. What ways have you found most effective in gaining support and momentum as a security leader with other executives? #CyberSecurity #CISO #ExecutiveCommunication